Artcurial to Auction an Original Eiffel Tower Staircase Section in Paris on May 21
A sliver of the Eiffel Tower’s early engineering — and a tangible souvenir of the 1889 World’s Fair — is returning to the auction block this spring. On May 21, Paris-based auction house Artcurial will offer an 8.5-foot segment of the monument’s original spiral staircase, a surviving component from the tower’s late-1880s construction.
The piece carries an estimate of €40,000–€50,000 (approximately $46,300–$57,900). Artcurial describes it as one of the last staircase sections still held in private hands in France, a detail likely to sharpen interest among collectors drawn to architectural artifacts with unusually clear provenance.
The Eiffel Tower was designed by French engineer Gustave Eiffel with three principal levels. In the years before elevators became standard, spiral staircases provided the essential circulation between floors, including access to the top level, where Eiffel maintained a private office. Over time, the tower’s visitor routes were updated: the stairs between the ground and second level were modified to improve safety and comfort, while the staircase linking the second and third floors was ultimately removed.
That removal, in 1983, set the stage for the market in Eiffel Tower stair fragments that continues today. When the second-to-third-floor staircase was replaced with modern elevators, French officials cut the 525-foot spiral structure into 24 sections. One 14-foot portion was retained and installed on the Eiffel Tower’s first floor as a historical display. Three additional segments were allocated to French institutions: the Musée d’Orsay and La Villette in Paris, and the Iron Museum in Jarville-la-Malgrange.
The remaining 20 pieces were sold together at auction in Paris on December 1, 1983, dispersing the staircase into private hands. Artcurial notes that the section it will sell on May 21 was lot number one in that original sale. The house’s Art Deco specialist Sabrina Dolla, speaking by email, emphasized the leap of faith involved in buying first, with many more staircase sections still to come under the hammer.
In the decades since, those 20 fragments have surfaced in a range of settings far from the Champ de Mars. A large section appeared in Pennsylvania two years ago; other pieces have been associated with Disneyland and with the Yoishii Foundation in Japan, established by the late art dealer Chozo Yoshii.
The May sale will be Artcurial’s fifth offering of an Eiffel Tower staircase section since 2013. The consignor, who remains anonymous, purchased the piece at the 1983 auction and has held it for roughly 40 years. Dolla said the owner is selling because his circumstances have changed.
Prices for these industrial relics have fluctuated, sometimes dramatically, depending on size, condition, and the competitive temperature in the room. In 2013, Artcurial sold an 11.5-foot, 19-step segment for €212,458 (about $246,335). In 2016, another 8.5-foot section reached €523,800 (approximately $607,320) after a bidding battle, setting the current record for the most expensive Eiffel Tower stairs sold at auction. Subsequent results have remained strong: a 14-foot, 25-step section brought €162,500 (about $188,410) in 2018, and an 8.5-foot section achieved €253,500 (approximately $293,920) in 2020.
Dolla argues that smaller sections can outperform expectations because they are easier to live with — sized for interiors rather than institutions — while still capturing the staircase’s distinctive geometry in a single, elegant coil. Ahead of the May auction, the workshop responsible for maintaining the Eiffel Tower restored the segment and repainted it brown, a nod to the color it wore when it was removed in 1983.
For collectors, the appeal is less about owning a “souvenir” than acquiring a rare, authenticated fragment of 19th-century ironwork tied to one of the world’s most recognizable monuments — a piece of Parisian infrastructure that has, over time, become a global icon.
