PARIS, Jan 17, 2008 (AFP) - Items from the wardrobe of late French president Francois Mitterrand are going up for auction in Paris to raise money for his widow's charity work, the Drouot auction house said Thursday 15th January.

Two items from the wardrobe of late French president Francois Mitterrand Photo : AFP

The 368 objects on sale on January 29 will also include gifts to the presidential couple -- mainly household items -- from international figures such as Cuban leader Fidel Castro and former US first lady Barbara Bush.

The lots are valued at between 20 euros and 4,000 euros (29 and 5,880 dollars), and the entire sale should generate up to 90,000 euros (138,000 dollars), Drouot said.

Danielle Mitterrand, 83, who runs the international human rights charity France-Libertes, "took the decision to sell only symbolic items, keeping back what had a more personal value," said sales expert Benedicte Blondeau-Wattel.

Mitterrand was France's head of state from 1981 until 1995. He died of cancer in 1996 at the age of 79.

Among the presidential items up for auction are a pair of black slippers embroidered with a red rose, a dressing gown, a lawyer's robe, and suits bearing the insignia of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour.