A piece of a staircase from the Eiffel Tower was sold at an auction for €85,000 in Paris.

The 7.8-metre chunk of the tower's spiral staircase, containing 40 steps, was part of a larger piece removed from the tower in 1983.

It was bought by an ironworker from the town of Troyes, east of Paris, during a sale of Paris-themed souvenirs at the Drouot auction house.

The man, who declined to give his name, said he planned to "cut it up and resell it".

He said he had done the same with a piece of the Berlin Wall.

The staircase from which the fragment came was dismantled in 1983 and broken up into 24 parts to be sold off.

Some parts have reappeared in auction rooms in recent years, one fetching as much as €550,000.