One golden throne has been sold for a king’s ransom.
An 18-karat gold working toilet sculpture titled “America” by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan sold Tuesday evening for a whopping $12,110,000, according to Sotheby’s.
‘America,’ the toilet cast from more than 100 kilograms of solid 18-karat gold, by Maurizio Cattelan is displayed during a press preview at Sotheby’s, November 7, 2025 in New York City.
Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images
The 223-pound toilet was first built in 2016, and had been installed in the Breuer Building this month, where patrons could have one-on-one viewing experiences in advance of its auction, according to the Sotheby’s YouTube channel.
The golden toilet is one of three created by Cattelan, according to Sotheby’s website.
“First unveiled at the Guggenheim Museum, where over 100,000 people lined up for the most luxurious bathroom break in art history, America became a global sensation—and later, a true-crime headline when another version was stolen from Blenheim Palace in 2019. The present work is the only remaining version of this sculpture,” Sotheby’s YouTube page says.
“With a starting bid equal to the price of its gold (around $10 million), it leaves one lingering question: where does value end and irony begin?” Sotheby’s YouTube page adds.
‘America,’ the toilet cast from more than 100 kilograms of solid 18-karat gold, by Maurizio Cattelan is displayed during a press preview at Sotheby’s, November 7, 2025 in New York City.
Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Lucius Elliott, the head of Contemporary Art Marquee Auctions at Sotheby’s, said the toilet is a mirror back to the viewer.
“It looks like a toilet, but it also looks nothing like a toilet you have ever seen. It is this glimmering, hulking, gluttonous mass of gold. You see yourself in it, you see the water in it, you see the movement, it’s like a mirror of the most decadent sort imaginable,” Elliott said in a Sotheby’s profile of the piece.
“That is what is so fascinating about this work, because unlike pretty much any artwork, this has a material value,” he added. “This is a European artist making a portrait of America. America in all its decadence, in all its beauty, in all its nouveau naffness, and in all its total dominion over the entire Western world.”
According to Sotheby’s, Cattelan is one of the world’s most famous conceptual artists.
“Cattelan was born in 1960 in Padua, Italy, and is today one of the most acclaimed artists of his generation. A self-taught artist, he worked as a furniture maker before launching his art career in 1989. Much of Cattelan’s early work takes aim at the personalities and conventions of the art world, establishing him as a conceptual enfant terrible,” a Sotheby’s press release reads.
Cattelan previously went viral for another project that Sotheby’s sold in 2024 for $6,240,000, consisting of a banana duct taped to a wall, entitled “Comedian,” according to a press release from Sotheby’s.
A banana artwork composed of a fresh banana stuck to a wall with duct tape is seen before being eaten by Chinese-born crypto founder Justin Sun in Hong Kong on November 29, 2024, after buying the provocative work of conceptual art by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan at a New York auction for $6.2 million.
Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images
Justin Sun, the founder of cryptocurrency platform TRON, purchased the work of art.
“This is not just an artwork; it represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community,” Sun said in the press release announcing his purchase of “Comedian.” “Additionally, in the coming days, I will personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic experience, honoring its place in both art history and popular culture.”
