A 24-step segment of the Eiffel Tower's original spiral staircase has sold for €450,160 at an auction held by Artcurial in Paris on 21 May. The piece, measuring 2.75 metres in height, was part of the helical staircase that connected the second and third floors when the tower opened in 1889.
During renovation work in 1983, when lifts were installed, the staircase was dismantled and cut into 24 sections. Few of these have remained in France or been kept by their original buyers, according to Artcurial. The section that just sold had spent four decades in a private collection, making its reappearance on the market a rare event.
A Piece of Parisian Heritage
The initial estimate for the 24 rust-coloured steps was between €120,000 and €150,000, but bidding pushed the final price well beyond that range. Even so, this segment did not break the record for Eiffel Tower staircase memorabilia: in 2016, Sotheby's sold a similar section for €523,800.
Beyond the prestige of owning a piece of one of Paris's most recognisable symbols, buyers gain entry to an exclusive circle of sites that house sections of the Iron Lady's staircase. Sections have been installed in the gardens of the Yoishii Foundation in Yamanashi, Japan; near the Statue of Liberty in New York; and even at Disneyland.
The sale underscores the enduring fascination with Gustave Eiffel's masterpiece, which remains one of the most visited monuments in Europe. For collectors, such artefacts offer a tangible link to the tower's original design, before modernisation altered its internal structure.
This auction follows other notable sales of European cultural artefacts, such as the recent auction of the Love Actually door in London, which also drew international attention. Meanwhile, the Eiffel Tower staircase segment joins a growing market for architectural relics, where provenance and rarity drive prices.
For Paris, the sale is a reminder of the tower's layered history. The original staircase, with its 1,665 steps, was a feat of 19th-century engineering. Today, the tower's lifts carry millions of visitors annually, but the surviving staircase sections remain prized by museums and private collectors alike.
