A Paris court has temporarily blocked the auction of La Pascaline, one of the world’s first mechanical calculators, developed by French mathematician Blaise Pascal in 1642. The device, valued at €2 to 3 million (£1.77m to £2.65m), was set to be sold by Christie’s as part of the library collection of the late Catalonia collector Léon Parcé. However, scientists and researchers petitioned for heritage protections, arguing that La Pascaline should be classified as a ‘national treasure’ due to its historical and scientific significance. The court’s provisional decision cited ‘serious doubts’ over the legality of an export certificate previously issued by France’s culture minister. Christie’s has suspended the sale pending a final judgment. La Pascaline, of which only nine examples remain, is celebrated as the first attempt to mechanize human thought, marking a pivotal moment in scientific history. The device had been exhibited at Christie’s venues in New York and Hong Kong this year. The French heritage group Association Sites & Monuments welcomed the court’s decision, emphasizing the calculator’s importance to France’s cultural and scientific legacy.