Blenheim Palace is a very literal palace in England built between 1705 and 1722 and currently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It has been the home of the Churchill family for nearly its entire existence. It was the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of England during World War II. All that to say it’s a building with a rich and fascinating history that was made just a little bit silly when someone stole a one-of-a-kind, 18-karat gold toilet worth $6 million from it.
To add some more silly on top of the silly, the gold toilet had a name—America. Well, it wasn’t so much a name as it was a title. The golden toilet was one of those rare satirical toilets, this one created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan in 2016.
If you’re still not getting it, here’s a fun little factoid from the Wikipedia page: in September 2017, the Trump White House asked the Guggenheim Museum in New York if they could be loaned a Van Gogh painting to display in one of President Trump’s private rooms. The Guggenheim’s curator, Nancy Spector, instead offered them Cattelan’s America.
America (the toilet) was created specifically for the Guggenheim Museum, and it wasn’t created as an art piece to be admired from behind a velvet rope. It was based on the museum’s Kohler toilets and was installed not on the show floor but inside one of the museum’s bathrooms for visitors to use.
In September 2019, America was installed in the legendary Blenheim Palace as part of an exhibition of Cattelan’s art. Again, it was not put on display as a traditional work of art would be. It was installed in a bathroom, the very same used by Winston Churchill.
Shortly thereafter, three men were captured on CCTV footage breaking into the palace and walking out with the toilet before loading it into the back of what appears to be a blue hatchback Volkswagen Golf. I guess the preparation paid off because the entire heist only took about 5 minutes.
The toilet was insured for £4.8 million, with the value of its gold alone estimated at £2.8 million. Three men were arrested and are currently on trial. Defendant Michael Jones allegedly cased to the palace twice in the weeks before the theft, once before the toilet was on display and once again after it was installed as a part of its exhibit. The two other men involved are being charged with a variety of crimes, including burglary. They’ve all pled not guilty.
Sadly, America will likely never be recovered. The gilded piece of art is suspected to have been chopped up and sold.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, Blenheim Palace visitors were allowed to use the toilet just as they were in New York, they just had to book a three-minute appointment for their one-on-one time.
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