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9h ago

Sotheby’s to Auction Cattelan’s 18-Karat Gold Toilet With Bullion-Based Opening Bid

Opening at the piece’s bullion value, the sale explicitly measures the artistic premium over raw gold.

The conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan’s toilet, “America,” is believed to be gone forever, following an audacious heist in 2019. But a second version, created the same year as the original, has surfaced unexpectedly on the art market.
“America” at Benheim Palace, photographed two days before it was stolen.
“America” in its original location at the Guggenheim. It will now be installed at Sotheby's New York, but for visitors' eyes only.
The Guggenheim said some 100,000 museumgoers lined up to see — and use — the sculpture when the museum installed it in a small bathroom for a year.

Overview

  • The fully functioning sculpture, cast from about 101.2 kilograms of 18-karat gold, will open near $10 million with the exact figure tracking the gold price until bidding starts.
  • Public preview runs November 8–17 at Sotheby’s new Breuer Building headquarters, where the work will be plumbed for viewing one person at a time but not available for use.
  • The piece is slated for the November 18 contemporary evening auction in New York, and Sotheby’s will accept cryptocurrency as payment.
  • The edition on offer was made in 2016, acquired from Marian Goodman Gallery in 2017 by a private collector, and is described by Sotheby’s as the only extant physical version; there is no reported irrevocable bid.
  • A separate edition installed at Blenheim Palace was stolen in 2019 and has never been recovered, with investigators believing it was destroyed, following convictions in the case earlier this year.