Eiffel Tower Staircase is Million-Dollar Baby!

U.S. buyer pays 10X estimated price

With France providing our largest international audience, we just couldn't resists this:

A private U.S. buyer has paid $1 million (553,000 euros) for an original staircase span from the Eiffel Tower, according to Australia's ABCNews.

The 2.7 meter-high chunk is the third of its kind sold in a year and it went for 10 times its estimated price, according to Sotheby's.

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 elevator was not yet in service.

Some descendents of Eiffel were present at last night'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."

(Photo: AFP/Pierre Verdy used without permission)