"Maurizio Cattelan's shimmering 223-pound (101.2 kg) solid gold toilet sold for $12.1 million with fees at Sotheby's contemporary auction in its new Breuer Building headquarters tonight, November 18. Sotheby's did not list an estimate for Cattelan's 18-karat metaphor, "America" (2016), but set bids to start at $10 million. Failing to receive more than one bid, the work sold after an awkward minute during which auctioneer Phyllis Kao attempted to draw out more offers using potty-related puns."
"Few appeared amused. Kao parried interest among the high-rolling crowd of more than 200 people on the fourth floor of the Madison Avenue auction house plus thousands viewing online, but only one bidder decided to get off the pot and purchased the piece over the phone. Mets owner Steve Cohen had quietly purchased the second of two editions of the golden loo in 2017 before deciding to part with it this year. His timing couldn't be better."
"The price of gold has since risen over 50% in the past year to $98,000 per kilogram, making the sculpture's price in gold alone $9.9 million. The precious-metal bathroom fixture is objectively a much better investment than Cattelan's disquieting duct-taped banana, "Comedian" (2019), purchased for $6.2 million by Chinese crypto billionaire Justin Sun at Sotheby's last year. Reportedly valued at $2.5 million in 2016, "America" had been attached to the Guggenheim Museum's plumbing system, where more than 100,000 visitors took it for a test spin."
Maurizio Cattelan's 223-pound solid 18-karat gold toilet titled "America" (2016) sold for $12.1 million including fees at Sotheby's Breuer Building contemporary auction on November 18. Bids began at $10 million, and only one bidder purchased the piece by phone after a prolonged pause. Mets owner Steve Cohen had purchased the second edition in 2017 and consigned it this year. Rising gold prices raised the sculpture's intrinsic metal value to roughly $9.9 million. The work served as a functioning fixture at the Guggenheim, was later shown at Blenheim Palace in 2019, and was subsequently stolen and never recovered.
Read at Hyperallergic
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