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A piece of the original staircase of the Eiffel Tower fetched 553,000 euros (710,000 dollars), 10 times its estimated price, in a Paris auction on Wednesday.
The 2.7-metre (nine-foot) high chunk, the third of its kind sold in a year, went to private US buyer after a tense battle between him and another interested party who both placed bids by phone, said Sotheby's auctioneers.
The spiral section was part of the flight leading from the second to the third levels of the tower. It was scaled by Gustav Eiffel himself at the inauguration in 1889, when the lift was not yet in service.
Some descendents of Eiffel were present at Wednesday's auction.
"What we are selling is a symbol," said Cecile Verdier of Sotheby's Paris. "It's more than an object, it's a piece of Paris - of the Eiffel Tower and that's the stuff of dreams."
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Comments (3)
France auctions
More info on French auctions: http://www.solicitor.fr/licitor.html
A Part of History!
Wow, I'd love to have that but, a bit too expensive for a civil servant like myself. I love to look at the tour when I visit Paris, I don't know what it is, the juxtaposition or what but, it draws the eyes and captivates, it's really fun to observe from one of the boats on the Seine, I'd recommend anyone do that. Now, as for the buyer, won't that purchase make a fun bit of conversation at a cocktail party...
Vende Piece de Escalier La Tour Eiffel,
A bit of History for Sale,I would love to have it but a bit to Dear for me. I went up the Tower once and it is something I will Treasure all my Life. You cannot Visit Paris without a Trip up the Eiffel Tower.