A Piece of the Eiffel on Auction, Orient Express’ New Venice Hotel, & a Cartier Crash Breaks Records

The market has a tell this week. A Parisian auction house stakes its season on a staircase. A century-old train brand checks into a palazzo. Mercedes quietly retires the combustion sedan. And a watch that looks like it melted breaks the record books. The thread running through all of it: provenance is back, and it's pricing accordingly. Artcurial's Paris Season Bets on Objects That Tell a Story This May, Artcurial isn't chasing the obvious. The Paris house has quietly assembled a sale season anchored by a section of the original Eiffel Tower staircase. Around it, the season unfolds across antiquities, Islamic and Egyptian art, and 20th-century design. It's a confident counterpoint to the market's current mood. While much of the auction world continues to pour energy into watches and jewelry, Artcurial is leaning toward objects with deeper roots: things that live at the crossroads of art, design, and lived history...