A solid‑gold toilet just smashed records at a Sotheby’s auction in New York. The 223‑pound “America” by artist Maurizio Cattelan fetched $12.1 million on Tuesday, far above its $10 million starting bid. The piece is made entirely of 18‑karat gold, and it was on display at the auction house’s headquarters for the public to see before the final hammer blows.
Cattelan, who first made the toilet in 2016, says it’s a tongue‑in‑cheek jab at the excess of American wealth. “Whatever you eat, a $200 lunch or a $2 hot dog, the results are the same, toilet‑wise,” he joked. He wanted to put something priceless in the “least noble and most necessary place” to show how high art can cross into everyday life. Sotheby’s called the throne “a sharp commentary on the clash between artistic creation and commodity value.”
Visitors could admire the gleaming porcelain throne, but were not allowed to actually use it. “We don’t want people sitting on the art,” said Sotheby’s expert David Galperin.
The toilet was owned by a private collector before the sale. Cattelan made two identical pieces, and one briefly hung at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In a humorous move, the museum even offered it to President Trump after his request to borrow a Van Gogh painting. The other was shipped to England and displayed at Blenheim Palace, where it was later stolen in a botched heist. The thieves were convicted, but the gold was never recovered—investigators suspect it was melted down, similar to the jewels stolen from the Louvre in October.
Cattelan is no stranger to high‑priced humor. His earlier work “Comedian,” a banana taped to a wall, sold for $6 million after a surge of internet fame. The piece was reproduced several times because the original banana rotted or was eaten by curious onlookers.
This auction win highlights how contemporary art can push the limits of value, satire, and celebrity, all while raising the bar for what people are willing to pay in the collectors’ world.
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