Overview
- Sotheby’s lists Maurizio Cattelan’s fully functioning 18-karat gold toilet, America, for its Now and Contemporary evening sale on November 18.
- Previews run November 8–17 at the auction house’s new Breuer Building headquarters in one-to-one sessions, and the toilet will not be usable.
- Bidding will start at a level set by the spot price of gold that day, with guidance placing the opening around $10 million and expectations of a higher final price.
- The work, weighing roughly 220–223 pounds and created in 2016, follows an edition at the Guggenheim that drew more than 100,000 visitors who lined up to use it.
- A separate edition loaned to Blenheim Palace was stolen in 2019 and remains missing, and two men were convicted earlier this year in connection with the burglary.