German Mountain For Sale On Ebay For Bargain GBP 170,000
A spectacular tabletop mountain that even inspired a 19th-century artist has gone up for sale on ebay for a fraction of its original EUR 1m price tag.
The Zirkelstein mountain, which is located five kilometres (three miles) southeast of the German town of Bad Schandau, was put up for sale on the online platform eBay yesterday (Thursday, 15th July).
The peak, which is wooded and cone-shaped, with a notable 40-metre-high (130 ft) tabletop summit of sandstone rock, gained fame after German Romantic landscape artist Caspar David Friedrich painted it in the background of his 1818 masterpiece called ‘Wanderer above the Sea of Fog’.
The eBay offer is online under the title: “Unique/ Your own mountain in Saxon Switzerland.”
Saxon Switzerland is a hilly climbing area and national park around the Elbe valley south-east of the German city of Dresden, and located in the state of Saxony.
Together with the Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic it forms the Elbe Sandstone Mountains.
The current owners hope to get at least EUR 199,500 (GBP 170) for the hill which is the smallest one in Saxon Switzerland, and rises about 384.5 meters (1,261 ft) above the Elbe Sandstone Mountains.
Sales manager Andre Marschner, 47, told local newspaper Bild: “Due to age-related reasons, the owners can no longer manage the forest and are therefore selling the property. For me it is the first time to see a mountain being sold.”
Various sources reported that this is not the first attempt to sell the Zirkelstein, as it was offered for EUR 500,000 (GBP 427,000) in 2007, and even for EUR one million (GBP 854,000) before that.
This is the first time that it was offered on eBay, according to local media.
However, the next owner will not hold the exclusive rights since the surrounding forest includes some public footpaths for recreation.
Dr Renke Coordes, 37, from the state forest management enterprise Sachsenforst, explained that according to the law “putting a fence is not an option”.
They added: “However, the owner is the only one allowed to drive a car in the area.”