"Andersen is kind of a classic American success story," said local developer Bob Pease, who was browsing for something he liked. "Someone may be sitting there and say, 'I like that painting,' and I'll say, 'Oh, yeah, that's from the Arthur Andersen debacle."'

Once the No. 5 accounting firm, Andersen has been selling off units and closing offices since being convicted of obstructing justice. Now the firm is selling its furnishings at a discount to raise cash.

"We probably could get a little more, but time isn't on our side," said Gordon Ponsford, a local appraiser assisting the Ann Jackson Gallery with the sale.

The collection, appraised at $500,000, will likely sell for half that amount, with Andersen netting 75 percent.

More than 50 people crowded the gallery and a parking-lot tent assessing oils, watercolors and works in chalk. A framed poster depicting a piano concert was listed for $90. A landscape of Georgia mountains by photorealist painter Ben Berns, whose work hangs in the Smithsonian, rested on an easel.

The Berns was priced at $45,000. A Dallas physician bought it for $20,000, Ponsford said.

Former employees stopped at the gallery throughout the week looking for company memorabilia, Ponsford said.

More than 800 public companies have dropped the firm as their auditor in the aftermath of accounting scandals that led to the biggest bankruptcies in U.S. history.

The firm audited books at WorldCom Inc. and at Enron Corp., which are the first- and second-largest Chapter 11 cases, respectively.

Andersen will shut down its auditing practice Aug. 31.

The Chicago-based firm agreed in May to sell its local consulting business to KPMG Consulting Inc. for as much as $284 million.

John Joiner, a self-employed CPA who came to Atlanta in 1958 to work for Arthur Andersen, is still nostalgic for the company.

"In 1958, I didn't see any art on the walls," Joiner said. "This happening to them is such a surprise. It's really a tragedy."

Some people weren't interested in the story behind the sale.

"I was hoping they had something more famous than these," paintings," said Howard Segan of Marietta, Ga. "I was looking for something larger, actually."

-- Lawrence Viele ; Bloomberg News