Overview
- The work sold at Sotheby’s in New York on Nov. 18 with a single $10 million hammer bid pegged to the sculpture’s gold value, bringing the total to about $12.1 million with fees.
- Ripley’s Believe It or Not! revealed itself as the buyer the next day in an Instagram post timed to World Toilet Day.
- The piece came from financier Steve Cohen’s collection and is the sole known intact fabricated example after another edition was stolen in 2019 and never recovered.
- Ripley’s says it will exhibit the working sculpture, with the location to be announced, and is assessing whether to allow visitors to use it.
- The toilet weighs roughly 101.2 kilograms, or about 2,440 ounces of 18-karat gold, a bullion value estimated near $10 million at current market rates.