Not everyone can be the force behind a monument as iconic as the Eiffel Tower, but you can still own a piece of it. Auction house Artcurial is currently offering a historic flight of steps from the Iron Lady herself, though potential buyers will need to clear some space in both their warehouses and their wallets, as the nearly nine-foot-tall section is estimated to fetch between $140,000 and $175,000. Comprising 14 steps, this segment was part of the original structure built for the 1889 World’s Fair to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution, and in its prime, it served as a vital link between the tower’s second and third levels.
Although the Eiffel Tower was originally intended to stand for only 20 years, it has endured for well over a century. This particular piece, however, bid adieu to the landmark in 1983, when modern elevators finally replaced the manual climb. It is believed that only 20 such sections have made their way into private collections worldwide, and the market for these relics remains remarkably strong. In 2016, a similar staircase segment sold for a staggering $612,000. This latest piece, owned by an unidentified French businessman, was described by Sabrina Dolla, a director at Artcurial, in a statement to The New York Times as “a true testament to the history of the Eiffel Tower and, beyond that, to universal history.”
There is a certain irony in the high demand for these fragments, considering that the same monument which now welcomes roughly 7 million visitors annually was once famously derided by some of France’s leading intellectuals as a “gigantic black smokestack” and a “hateful column of bolted metal.” One can only imagine how those critics would react today, seeing mere pieces of Gustave Eiffel’s brainchild command such impressive six-figure sums.
