A chestnut from the tree that diarist Anne Frank hid in to escape the Nazis is being put up for sale on eBay. The idea was that of Charles Kujiper, who lives next door to the immortalized house where Anne Frank hid from Nazi German occupiers.

"I had this idea for a few years, and I decided to put the chestnut up for auction," Kukiper said.

The tree's significance was first established in Anne Frank's diary, in which she wrote of how she was hidden in the attic of the house for two years, with the horse-chestnut tree being her only reminder of the natural world.

Bids for the chestnut have reached $2,425 on Monday.

The tree has recently shown signs of decay, as a fungus has led to the rotting of half of its trunk. City officials have ordered for it to be cut down, angering conservationists and historians.