Ideally, FDIC finds a buyer for a failed institution, so that while they may have to absorb a loss, the bank’s accounts and assets at least have a new home. Otherwise, FDIC – also known as we the taxpayers – ends up holding a lot of crap. Anybody need a lawnmower?

When New Frontier Bank failed in April, regulators failed to find a buyer, forcing the FDIC to absorb the roughly $2 billion in assets that were once owned by the Colorado-based lender.

But what the FDIC may not have anticipated at the time was that the agency would be stuck with a grab-bag of other exotic assets including a white Bentley Arnage, three lawnmowers, a Fleetwood Motor home and more than two dozen works of art, most of which reflected the bank’s rural surroundings in northern Colorado.

The demise of New Frontier is just one example of the asset messes regulators are often stuck with once a bank is shuttered. At an auction held last month, regulators auctioned off a combined 300 copiers, printers and scanners that were once owned by the California mortgage lender IndyMac, which collapsed last July in one of the biggest bank failures in history.

In addition to Bentleys and lawnmowers, FDIC also has to auction off a whole lot of commercial and residential real estate (fun) and nonperforming loans (even more fun). $CBG is getting a lot of that biz, and judging by how many melted down last weekend, there appears to be no end to the bankfail any time soon. No position in $CBG, but it might be worth taking a look. And if you’re looking for a lawnmower, it might be worth showing up at a FDIC auction.