In the history of contemporary art, the first chapter was written by Piero Manzoni with his “Artist’s Shit”, tins sold for their weight in gold. There had been a precedent for the truth with Duchamp’s urinal. Now it’s the turn of the second chapter and it concerns the golden toilet, or rather the golden toilet by Maurizio Cattelan, a famous work paid for by its weight in gold. Ten million dollars is the starting price with which Maurizio’s 18-carat toilet – named “America” - will be auctioned Cattelanan iconic object already at the center of controversy in 2016 when it was installed at Guggenheim and perfectly
working; the museum invited visitors to use it as a regular restroom, and over 100,000 people lined up to experience what the museum called “unprecedented intimacy with a work of art.” One of its twins was then stolen three years later, i.e. in 2019, from the English house-museum of Blenheim 
Palace, Winston Churchill’s birthplace in England, where it was exhibited; three men were convicted of the theft: Michael Jones, Fred
erick Doe and James Sheen. The toilet was at the center of a dispute with the Trump White House. In 2018 the president, then in his first term, had asked the Guggenheim to borrow a work by van Gogh for the private apartment of the Executive Residence, the curators responded by offering Cattelan’s toilet in exchange. “America” – this is the name of the toilet – had been conceived before Trump became a serious candidate for the presidency, but Cattelan himself, initially inspired by the theme of economic inequalities in the USA, had noticed the affinity between the tycoon and the glitter of gold, starting from the Trump Tower up to the golden accessories in the bathrooms of his private jet; the Paduan artist had also underlined the democratic spirit of his installation with the New Yorker: “If you eat a two hundred dollar meal or a two hundred dollar hot dog, the result when you go to the bathroom is the same.”
The precious water will be sold in November 2025 at Sotheby’s. Done in beyond 100 kilos Of gold massive (exact weight 101.2 kg), the perfectly functional toilet will be offered, for the first time in the history of auctions, on the basis of the value of the precious metal (increasing sharply from the beginning of 2025), fluctuating with the market trend until the day of the auction. Furthermore, Cattelan has already made people talk about his works as, for example, happened with “Comedian“, the banana taped to the wall paid over six million dollars by a cryptocurrency tycoon. The buyer, Justin Sun, ate it. Now it’s time for the toilet, considered object Of worship ever since it was installed on the fifth floor of the Guggenheim nine years ago. The museum had invited visitors to use the precious cup like a normal toilet. Three years later the work was exhibited at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, but then stolen. The next chapter related to the work will see the toilet inserted in a bathroom in the Breuer Building New Yorkthe new headquarters of Sotheby’swhich will open the office onNovember 8, but the toilet will be offered in The Now and Contemporary Evening Auction on November 18, 2025. The starting bid at today’s rate is around $10 million dollars, also payable in cryptocurrencies. The toilet presented represents the only existing version of the sculpture: the other example has never been found. Let’s go, as said, come on 10 millions of dollars, but the goal is to exceed the over 17 million dollars paid for another work by Cattelan, namely “Him”, a sculpture of a kneeling Hitler sold at Christie’s almost ten years ago, i.e. in 2016.
Carlo Franza