It began as a joke, with the actor saying that his used tissue would probably raise about "20 balles" (20 quid/bucks) - but as of Sunday bids on eBay had risen to €100,000 for the white tissue on its sealed plastic bag.
During an interview with the French content creator Antton Racca, Niney was asked about the story of American actress Scarlett Johansson putting her used tissue up for sale and getting $5 300 (€4,471) in 2008.
On camera, Niney then blows his nose into a tissue - assuring viewers that he is in "very, very good health", drops it into a plastic bag and announces that he is putting it up for sale - with any proceeds going to "a really good charity".
Les enchères sont déjà à plus de 10 000 euros 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/HYmDGW6bSd
— Antton (@anttonracca) January 28, 2026
The tissue was put on eBay with a reserve price of €1 - by February 28th bids had reached €10,000 and by February 1st they had jumped to €100,000.
Who is Pierre Niney?
A household name in France, the actor is less well known in the anglophone world.
The Paris-born 36-year-old began his career in the theatre with the Comédie-Française, and got his big film breakthrough in 2014 when he starred as the fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent in the biopic of the same name, which won him a César (the French equivalent of the Oscars).
Since then he has starred in numerous hit French films including Un homme idéal, Frantz and OSS 117: Alerte rouge en Afrique noire.
In 2024 he starred as Edmond Dantes in the big-budget adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo. He is currently promoting his new film Le Gourou (The Guru) in which he plays a charismatic but manipulative self-help guru.
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