A segment of the original Eiffel Tower staircase sold for three times its original estimate
A segment of the Eiffel Tower's original spiral staircase was sold at auction in Paris on Thursday for more than 450,000 euros, according to Reuters.
The buyer, present in the auction room, came into possession of a section of a ladder with 14 steps, about 2.7 meters high and weighing 1.4 tons. The piece dates from 1889, the year in which the famous monument that dominates the center of Paris was completed.
“When you buy a piece of the Eiffel Tower, you also buy a piece of Paris, with all the symbolic charge and imagery that it represents,” said Sabrina Dolla, director of Art Deco design at Artcurial Paris.
Over 40 years ago, part of the original staircase of the Eiffel Tower was dismantled and divided into several segments, which were then sold. The staircase was replaced by elevators.
The segment auctioned on Thursday was awarded for 450,160 euros, three times over the initial estimate, which valued it between 120,000 and 150,000 euros.
Another fragment of the ladder was sold in 2008 to an American collector for a record sum of 550,000 euros. Several segments of the Eiffel Tower staircase are today in museums, gardens and private collections in different corners of the world.
Some of them are exhibited near the Statue of Liberty in New York, in the gardens of the Yoshi Foundation in the Japanese prefecture of Yamanashi or in private collections outside France.
Sabrina Dolla said collector interest in the Eiffel Tower has increased after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
