Someone may soon flush $10 million down the drain for this gold toilet

A toilet made entirely of solid gold is heading to auction in New York this month, and it’s already making waves in the art world. The sculpture, titled America, was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s on November 18, starting at roughly $10 million (PKR 2,809,000,000) – the estimated value of its 101 kilograms of gold.

But America is not just any art piece. It is a fully functioning toilet, identical to the one that was famously stolen in 2019 from England’s Blenheim Palace in a daring overnight theft that grabbed headlines across the globe. The stolen version was never recovered, and police believe it was melted down for its gold.

Sotheby’s describes America as “a sharp reflection on the clash between artistic creation and commercial value.” Cattelan himself once said the work pokes fun at excess wealth. “Whether you eat a $200 meal or a $2 snack, the result is the same,” he quipped when the piece first went on display.

Two versions of the golden toilet exist. The one being auctioned has remained with a private collector since 2017. The other was exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2016, where more than 100,000 visitors queued for their three-minute turn to use it. The Guggenheim later offered to loan it to US President Donald Trump when he requested a Van Gogh painting for the White House.

Cattelan, often described as the art world’s great provocateur, is known for challenging ideas of value and meaning. His previous works include Comedian – a banana duct-taped to a wall that sold for $6.2 million – and Him, a sculpture of a kneeling Adolf Hitler, which fetched $17.2 million.

The upcoming auction will test how much buyers are willing to pay for art that blurs the line between concept and commodity. America will be on public display at Sotheby’s Breuer Building in New York from November 8, though this time visitors will only be able to admire it – not use it.