Marcel morceaux: Legendary mime artist Marcel Marceau is clearing his debts posthumously, with an auction of his belongings fetching almost €500,000.

His trademark white sailor suit and silk opera hat were among the items that went under the hammer last week to clear the debts Marceau accrued before he died in 2007. Some of the auction’s 900 lots were bought by the French state, and others were bought by a group of fans with the intention of creating a museum in his legacy.