The mystery behind the purchase of Maurizio Cattelan's controversial golden toilet artwork has been solved. Ripley's Believe It or Not! announced on Instagram that it was the buyer of the 18-karat gold, fully functioning toilet titled "America" (2016), which sold for $12.1 million at Sotheby's on Tuesday night. Previously, the auction house had only identified the purchaser as a "Famous American Brand."
The artwork was sold during Sotheby's Now & Contemporary auction, where it received a hammer price of $10 million after just a single bid. The final sale price barely exceeded the raw value of the gold used to create the piece, despite widespread pre-sale speculation about its potential value.
In its Instagram announcement, Ripley's expressed being "flush with excitement" about the acquisition, describing "America" as the most valuable object to join its collection. The museum noted that it had acquired the only fully fabricated edition of the sculpture known to exist, highlighting the work's unique status in the art world.
The company referenced the toilet's remarkable and somewhat troubled history, including its celebrated installation at the Guggenheim Museum in 2016 and the mysterious disappearance of a second golden toilet during a brazen smash-and-grab robbery at Blenheim Palace in 2019. This second version remains missing to this day, making Ripley's acquisition even more significant as one of only two extant versions of the edition.
Ripley's has announced plans to put the golden toilet on public display, continuing its tradition of showcasing unusual and extraordinary objects. The museum is currently exploring possibilities for whether visitors will eventually be allowed to sit on and use the fully functional sculpture, though no final decision has been made regarding public interaction with the piece.
The toilet was consigned for sale by billionaire collector and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, who originally purchased the artwork from Marian Goodman Gallery in 2017. Sotheby's had confirmed before the auction that the work carried no irrevocable bid and that they would accept cryptocurrency as payment, reflecting the modern art market's adaptation to digital currencies.
During the preview period, the sculpture was installed for viewing in a private bathroom at Sotheby's new Breuer Building headquarters in New York. However, unlike its famous Guggenheim installation where more than 100,000 visitors queued to actually use the toilet, access at Sotheby's was strictly limited to viewing only, with the piece remaining off-limits for functional use.
The sale was handled by Sotheby's Vice Chairman Cassandra Hatton, who managed the winning bid. Despite the artwork's conceptual significance and media attention, "America" ultimately sold near its intrinsic metal value, suggesting that collectors valued it primarily for its gold content rather than its artistic merit or cultural commentary on American excess and inequality that Cattelan intended to convey.
