Berlin Wall goes under the hammer
BERLIN (Reuters) - Four graffiti-covered giant slabs of the Berlin Wall could fetch as much as 3,000 euros ($4,350) each at an auction Friday, a Berlin auction house said Thursday.
The four 2.8-tonne chunks of the wall that once divided Communist East Berlin and capitalist West Berlin are pieces of German history, said Hans Peter Plettner, spokesman for Deutsche Grundstuecksauktionen AG.
Even though much of the Berlin Wall was quickly broken up ground down for road construction after it was demolished in 1989, a myriad of its pieces chipped off by souvenir hunters remain popular with tourists and Berliners alike.
Precious few segments of the 3.5-metre high "anti-fascist protection barrier" -- as East German leaders called the 155-km (96-mile) long fortification -- have survived.
"We're hoping the bidding will reach 12,000 euros for all four," Plettner said. He said there had been many fake pieces of the wall sold but his lots were genuine.
(Reporting by Josie Cox; Editing by Mariam Karouny)
