An English Palace Installed a Solid Gold Toilet and Left It Unattended. The Result: One of the Craziest Art Heists in History

The history of theft spans nearly as long as humanity itself. However, one particular incident stands out for its bizarre and embarrassing nature: the heist at Blenheim Palace, an opulent residence in the United Kingdom where former Prime Minister Winston Churchill was born in 1874. In September 2019, a gang of thieves stole a heavy toilet weighing almost 220 pounds.

This was no ordinary toilet. It was a work of art made from solid 18-karat gold and valued at $6 million.

To understand the events that unfolded at Blenheim Palace in 2019, you must first look back a few years to New York City. In 2016, controversial artist Maurizio Cattelan created a piece intended to satirize the excesses of the art market and the American dream. He named it America, and, as you might have guessed, that was the gold toilet stolen years later.

More Than Just a Sculpture

Cattelan is known for his controversial works, including La Nona Ora–a sculpture depicting Pope John Paul II being struck by a meteorite–and the more recent Comedian, which features a banana taped to a wall and sold for $6.2 million in 2024. Americais his most famous creation, and its most striking aspect is that it’s made entirely of 18-karat gold, which accounts for its staggering price tag of $6 million.

While this is provocative in itself, the Italian artist sought to push boundaries even further.

What makes America particularly intriguing is that it’s a fully functional toilet, designed for people to use just like any toilet in their home or a public restroom. This piece was installed in one of the bathrooms at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, where nearly 100,000 visitors lined up to experience what it was like to use a solid gold toilet.

The installation proved so popular that in 2019, it was transported across the Atlantic to be exhibited on loan at Blenheim Palace. This prestigious site, located in Woodstock in South East England, is one of the finest examples of Baroque architecture in Great Britain. It’s been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since the late 1980s.

If the artwork caused a sensation in New York City, the same was true for Woodstock. However, there was a significant difference between the two locations. Those in charge at Blenheim Palace underestimated the risk of someone stealing the toilet. “It’s not going to be the easiest thing to nick,” Edward Spencer-Churchill of the Blenheim Art Foundation said in 2019. “Firstly, it’s plumbed in and secondly, a potential thief will have no idea who last used the toilet or what they ate,” he added.

In short, the toilet was part of the palace’s plumbing and drainage system, weighed nearly 220 pounds, and was regularly used by visitors. Additionally, it was an avant-garde work of art, which somewhat overshadowed its material value. So, who would want to steal it? To those at Blenheim, the idea seemed far-fetched, leading to lax security measures at night. When the palace closed its doors, the bathroom cubicle was left unsupervised and wasn’t covered by the closed-circuit camera system.

This proved to be a big mistake. While America was a piece of art, it was also made of gold. The metal alone was valued at around $3.6 million at the time, making it a tempting target for thieves.

What happened next was no surprise. On the night of Sept. 14, 2019, shortly before 5 a.m. local time, a gang of criminals broke into the palace grounds. They ransacked the building and removed the toilet. They then loaded it into the trunk of a car and sped off–all in just five minutes. This occurred so quickly that security guards and police had no time to react.

America had only been on display at Blenheim for two days.

Almost six years later, surveillance footage and investigations by law enforcement provide greater insight into how the infamous $6-million toilet heist was executed. The gang, consisting of five members, used two stolen vehicles to enter the estate hours after the last guests had departed. They broke a window and used sledgehammers and crowbars to dismantle the toilet from the bathroom and disconnect it from the palace’s plumbing. Once the task was complete, they loaded the piece into one of the cars and fled the scene.

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Eleanor Paice, an employee at Blenheim Palace, recently recounted her experience of that night when she was sleeping in a staff apartment there. She woke up abruptly to the sound of breaking glass and rushed into the main courtyard upon hearing the alarm. Once outside, she only caught a glimpse of the end of the robbery. “It was just shadows and quick movement. I just saw them move towards the cat, get in the car... and then the car just sped straight off,” she told the BBC.

Initially, the team was unsure about what the thieves had taken. Paice’s first thought was that a Churchill relic might be missing. However, after examining the rooms, the team at Bleinhem discovered the full extent of the theft and noted that the thieves had caused a small flood. “If the golden toilet in situ had looked beautiful and perfect and majestic and untainted, this was the total opposite. This was brutalized, smashed up,” Dominic Hare, the palace’s chief executive, explained.

In response to the disaster, the staff covered the damaged cubicle with police tape and decided to turn the scene into an exhibit. In the absence of the famous solid gold toilet, this new attraction drew crowds of visitors who arrived to see something “better” than a $6-million gold toilet: the site of the theft itself. Despite the irony, Hare took responsibility for the palace’s vulnerability and committed to taking corrective measures.

As for the thieves, although they initially escaped with the loot, the police quickly managed to track down at least part of the gang. The first to be arrested was a 40-year-old man from Oxford with a criminal record, identified as the alleged ringleader. Just two days after the robbery, he was attempting to sell gold at $15,700 per pound. Additionally, officers discovered traces of his DNA on a sledgehammer abandoned at the palace, a stolen van, and small fragments of gold on his clothing.

He wasn’t the only one to face consequences. In March, Oxford Crown Court found two other men, ages 39 and 36, guilty. One of them was convicted of theft. During the trial, it was revealed that prior to the robbery, he had visited the palace to closely examine Cattelan’s works, use the famous toilet, and take photos, including the bathroom door lock.

The other man was convicted of conspiracy to transfer goods of illicit origin. However, his sentence was suspended in May after the judge determined that the other robbers may have taken advantage of his goodwill. The judge noted that he didn’t receive any personal benefit, and his involvement in the heist was very limited.

As for the gold toilet, it may now be part of British art and crime history, but it hasn’t been recovered. Neither the toilet nor the gold has been found. Some believe that Cattelan’s piece was dismantled and sold. Following the verdict, the Italian artist hopes that the theories suggesting he’s the “mastermind” behind the incident–and that the Blenheim theft was merely another of his controversial performances–will cease. “Let’s hope this verdict finally clears my name,” he said.

Image | MossAlbatross

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