Piece of History: 14-Step Section of Eiffel Tower Staircase Sells for €450,160 in Paris

A 14-step spiral section of the Eiffel Tower's original staircase sold for €450,160 at an Artcurial auction in Paris on Thursday, far exceeding its pre-sale estimate.

The fragment, dating to 1889, stands roughly 9 feet tall, weighs about 1.4 tons and was purchased by a bidder present in the auction room. The final hammer price was approximately three times the top end of its estimated value of €120,000–€150,000.

“When you buy a piece of the Eiffel Tower, you’re buying a piece of Paris, along with all the imagination and symbolism it represents,” said Sabrina Dolla, Art Deco design director at Artcurial Paris, where the sale took place.

Background

More than four decades ago, around 526 feet of the tower’s original staircase were cut into smaller sections and sold after elevators were installed to carry visitors to the tower’s highest viewing platform. Individual fragments—ranging from nine to 30 feet—have since been acquired by institutions and private collectors around the world.

Other Notable Sales and Locations

One fragment set a record in 2008 when a private American buyer paid €550,000. Preserved sections are displayed near the Statue of Liberty in New York, in the gardens of the Yoshi Foundation in Yamanashi, Japan, and in various private collections abroad.

Dolla credited the Paris 2024 Olympics, which spotlighted landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde and the Grand Palais, with renewing collector interest in objects associated with the monument and its aesthetic appeal.

Conversion used in reporting: ($1 = 0.8627 euros). Reported by Elissa Darwish; edited by Richard Lough.