Overview
- Paris’s administrative court provisionally suspended the export license after an urgent appeal by scientists, including Nobel laureate Giorgio Parisi.
- Christie’s pulled the Pascaline at the owner’s instruction, and the rest of the late Léon Parcé library auction proceeded without the calculator.
- The court indicated the device is likely to be deemed a national treasure, which would bar export, with a final ruling expected in several months.
- The culture ministry had granted an export certificate in May with expert approvals from CNAM and the Louvre, a process now under judicial challenge.
- The Pascaline is a rare, fully functional 17th‑century calculator believed to be the only example still in private hands, estimated at €2–3 million, and The Art Newspaper reports this is the first court stoppage of a French export license, raising trade concerns.