Overview
- Artcurial will auction an original Eiffel Tower staircase section on May 21 in Paris with a €40,000 to €50,000 estimate.
- The piece is section number one from the 1889 spiral stair that linked the second and third floors and measures 2.75 meters tall with 14 steel steps.
- An anonymous owner is selling the fragment after more than forty years in one collection, and Tower maintenance workshops recently restored its original brown finish.
- The staircases were removed in 1983, split into 24 parts, and many segments now sit in places such as the Eiffel Tower’s first floor, the Musée d’Orsay, La Villette, and the Iron Museum.
- Past sales show sharp swings, from €212,458 in 2013 to €523,800 in 2016, and specialists say smaller sections tend to sell better because they fit more spaces.