"...The antiques Thain reportedly purchased will probably hold their value over time, said Clinton Howell, a New York dealer in English furniture. “[Designer] Michael Smith is a very smart guy and he buys very good things,” said Howell. “It’s very likely that what he bought was worth the money if Merrill Lynch wants to get their money back.” ...In light of Merrill’s $56 billion in losses from subprime loans and the credit crisis, $1.2 million spent on antiques hardly seems worth getting outraged over, Howell said. “What John Thain did with his office is a little like noting that somebody failed to turn on his blinker before driving into a train,” said Howell. Designer Dennis Rolland, who has done homes and offices for financiers including Peter Peterson, the co-founder of Blackstone Capital Partners LP, said it’s unwise to furnish an office with antiques. “I would seldom encourage someone in an office to use antique furniture, it’s too fragile,” said Rolland. Wall Street executives may no longer be able to spend lavishly on perks, said James Post, professor of corporate governance and business ethics at Boston University School of Management. “That’s symbolic of a pattern that has developed on Wall Street over this past decade of more and more extravagant, more and more lavish, more and more one-upmanship in all of these visible symbols,” said Post. “This may be the last vestige of a culture that we’re not going to see for many years to come.”..."

Merrill’s Thain Said to Pay $1.2 Million to Decorator | Bloomberg.com | Peter S. Green | January 23, 2009