France, May 22 -- The buyer, who was in the auction room, purchased the 3-metre section of the Eiffel Tower staircase. It dates back to 1889, the year the monument that towers over central Paris was completed.

Weighing in at 1.4 tonnes, it had been valued at between €120,000 and €150,000, but sold for more than three times the upper estimate at €450,000.

"When you buy a ‌piece of the Eiffel Tower, you're buying a piece of ⁠Paris, along with all the imagination and symbolism it represents," said Sabrina Dolla, Art Deco design director at the Artcurial Paris ​auction house, where the sale took place on Thursday.

More than ‌four decades ago, a total of 526 metres of staircase were cut into smaller...