How much is that monkey in the window?

NEWS ITV Digital may be facing the abyss but the future looks bright for one of its prized assets - Monkey. The cloth puppet used to advertise the service has become a cult figure and its survival looks assured on the web and in the boardroom. Investment company Selestia has offered £10,000 a year plus "perks" to acquire the rights to Monkey, according to the FT. Grocer Kwik Save has also registered a strong interest and has pledged to match any offer for the rights, which presumably means he'll be re-branded as Mynki. ITV Digital's administrator Deloitte & Touche said: "We do not know for sure where Monkey sits as an asset." Meanwhile, Monkey memorabilia are selling like hot cakes on ebay.co.uk. A "genuine" stuffed Monkey will currently put you back around £82, although the wily bidder may be able to pick one up for around £50. Monkey dolls were being given away free with set-top boxes up until a few weeks ago so with this much interest being showed already a £50 stuffed monkey might be a cunning investment. An ITV Digital Monkey knitting pattern costs £1.40. According to the blurb the "pattern is SO easy to use and even a complete amature (sic) will be able to knit one within a week". A CD containing 12 high-quality MPEG Monkey TV adverts will put you back a paltry £7.50, while postcards featuring Monkey dressed up as Russell Crowe's Gladiator and Hannibal Lecter can be snapped up for as little as a tin of fava beans and a mediocre Chianti. Meanwhile, parts of ITV Digital itself are still available. Contact Deloitte & Touche for details. Webvan had its share certificates, Enron had its branded pens and mountains of shredded paper and now ITV Digital has its Monkey. A paperclip or a Gap shirt from Microsoft? A pair of John Chambers' Bermuda shorts for Cisco. Let us know what would be the legacy of any other tech companies that went to the wall by adding a reader comment below. (Incidentally, silicon.com readers were once asked to suggest a name for Monkey and the most popular answer was Spank.)