According to a report by German news agency dpa, a gold toilet by artist Maurizio Cattelan will be auctioned in New York in November, as announced by auction house Sotheby's on Friday.
The toilet is made of 18-karat gold and is fully functional.
Cattelan created two versions of the work in 2016 and named it 'America.'
One of the works was previously exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, before it was stolen in 2019 from Blenheim Palace in England while on loan for an exhibition.
The second version was sold to a private collector, who now intends to auction it.
According to a statement from the auction house, the starting price of the auction will be set based on the current market value of gold on the day of the auction.
The gold toilet is estimated to be worth between $5 million and $6 million, making it one of the most expensive modern works of art ever made from pure gold.
Maurizio Cattelan uses this work as a satire on wealth and social inequality in the United States (US), illustrating how luxury can become a symbol of global economic imbalance.
