Sitting in luxury?
While the object of many obscene jokes and certainly originally intended to be a “smear” on the capitalistic nature of America, Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan created a “solid” gold toilet for exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum. The work titled “America” the 1% for the 99%.” Apparently, the plumbing fixture was literally connected and people paid to use the toilet for its utilitarian purpose. So many people wanted to brag they had sat on a solid gold toilet the users were limited to three-minute intervals. The statement toilet had in 2016 been fitted at the museum in New York, where 100,000 people lined up to use it. From the Guggenheim the fixture was moved to as an artwork at the Oxfordshire palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill as an artwork. As it was plumbed in at the time, its removal caused flooding and damage to the 18th-century stately home and Unesco world heritage site in Woodstock.
The toilet was just too big a target for thieves and the fixture was stolen in 2019. It became the topic of lots of speculation and many, many jokes. Speaking at the time of the theft, Cattelan (the artist) said he hoped the theft was a prank and asked: “Who’s so stupid to steal a toilet? Edward Spencer-Churchill, founder of the Blenheim Art Foundation, said the lavatory would not be “the easiest thing to nick.” He told the Times: “Firstly, it’s plumbed in; and secondly, a potential thief will have no idea who last used the toilet or what they ate. So no, I don’t plan to be guarding it.” Dominic Hare, the chief executive of Blenheim Palace, said at the time he hoped the “pointless” act of stealing would immortalize the work. He added that it was deeply ironic for the work “portraying the American dream” and the elite object made available to all was “instantly snatched away and hidden from view.”
Four men have been charged over the theft of the gold toilet valued at $5.9 million, which vanished from Blenheim Palace in an overnight raid in September 2019. Senior crown prosecutor Shan Saunders from the CPS said: “The Crown Prosecution Service has authorized charges in relation to the theft of a gold toilet. Seven people had been arrested over the heist, but no charges have been brought until Monday, four years after the toilet was stolen. The artwork has never been found. No information was shared about who or how the plumbing fixture was used over the missing 4 years.
Bathroom humor
John, the archaeologist, is digging under a theatre and discovers 5 pots of gold coins…
Ecstatic, he tells his lead archaeologist
“Graham, I’ve found 3 pots of gold coins!”
“What’s that John? You’ve found 2 pots of gold coins?”
“That’s what I said, a whole pot of gold coins!”
I walked in on a man using a solid gold toilet.
“How many karats is that, sir?”
“None, but there is a lot of corn.”
How do you turn lead into gold?
Start a war.
What’s the difference between an iPhone 15 and one half ounce of gold?
An ounce of gold will still be worth a grand next year.
November 7th Birthdays
1996 – Lorde, 1943 – Joni Mitchell, 1867 – Marie Curie, 1972 – Emily Lesueur
1918 – Billy Graham, 1952 – David Petraeus, 1975 – Marcus Luttrell, 1947 – Johnny Rivers