The worldly possessions of disgraced fraudster Bernard Madoff have been auctioned in New York for hundreds of thousand of pounds.

One bidder paid £342,000 for the engagement ring Madoff bought for his wife Ruth, while another buyer bought his vintage Rolex for £42,000.

More than 400 items were up for auction, including his monogrammed boxer shorts, slippers and socks, as well as Ruth Madoff’s diamond earrings and a broken leather foot stall which went for £2,000.

An 81-year-old amateur pianist paid £26,000 for a 1917 Steinway grand piano. He said the purchase was worth it because it would “make an interesting conversation piece”.

The items were seized by US marshals when Madoff was arrested in 2008.

Madoff is serving a 150 year prison sentence for a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme in which he cheated charities, celebrities and long-time investors. More than 13,000 people lost money through the collapse of his firm Madoff Securities.

Victims of the fraud included Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and director Steven Spielberg.