An 18-carat gold toilet designed by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, once stolen in a daring Blenheim Palace heist, has just sold for a staggering $12.1 million (£9.3m) to Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
If you want to feel like royalty, or some sort of Borat-esque extravagant dictator while you go for a number two, you can now do so sitting comfortably on an 18-carat gold toilet.
The lavish loo, created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, has just been auctioned for millions, and it may very well be open to be used by the general public.
The Maurizio Cattelan golden throne doesn’t only provide its user with a VIP experience of relieving yourself, but it also comes with some interesting history. Back in 2019, the luxury toilet was famously stolen from Blenheim Palace in 2019, which you can read more about here.
The unique item was sold for $12.1 million (£9.3 million) at an auction and was bought by Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, the brand of museums and attractions that display a collection of strange, unusual, and bizarre artifacts and exhibits from around the world.
The toilet, entitled Cattelan “America”, is a fully operational toilet crafted from over 100 kilograms (15st 13lb) of solid 18-carat gold. The original piece was installed in a public restroom at New York’s Guggenheim Museum in 2016, where it reportedly saw use by more than 100,000 visitors before being relocated to Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.
It was subsequently stolen in a daring heist three years later. News later emerged of a second golden loo, which went up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York, attracting just a single bid.
In a unique twist, the starting price matched its weight in gold, around $10 million (£7.6 million), the BBC reported. After some initial mystery, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! revealed themselves as the mystery buyer in an Instagram post, writing “we’re flush with excitement”.
Maurizio Cattelan is a contemporary Italian conceptual artist known for his satirical, humorous, and provocative sculptures and installations. Often called the “joker of the art world”, he frequently uses dark humour to challenge social norms and institutions.
In addition to the golden loo, among Cattelan’s polarising work is “Comedian”, a conceptual artwork featuring a fresh banana duct-taped to a wall. It was first exhibited by Galerie Perrotin at Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2019, where it sold in three editions for up to $150,000 each (£118,000).
The piece, which comes with a certificate of authenticity and instructions for replacing the banana every week, sparked global debate about the value and meaning of art, especially after performance artist David Datuna ate the banana at the fair. In November 2024, an edition of “Comedian” sold for $6.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York to cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, the Daily Star previously reported.
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