- Why would you ever guard a solid gold object worth millions of dollars?
We’ve said it before, we’ll surely say it again — even if it’s nailed down, someone will try to steal it. Even then, you have to wonder why someone would try to steal a toilet.
Well, the throne’s more than $6 million price tag might have something to do with it. The thing was made out of solid gold, after all.
That’s right, we’re talking about a golden toilet. Bizarre and expensive in equal measures, this piece of installation art was revealed in 2019 at the Blenheim Palace in Oxford, England.
And then it was stolen a day later.
It’s kind of hard to blame the thieves for taking advantage of the opportunity, though, because the art exhibition had next to no security measures. Within a few minutes, the thieves were in and out, and the gold toilet hasn’t been seen since.
All that said, two of the burglars were apprehended soon afterward. The court case over the robbery has dragged on, but now they have been found guilty.
James Sheen and Michael Jones will receive their sentences later this year. However, the rest of their five-member gang is still at large, and may never be caught.
The Toilet Called ‘America’
But let’s take a step back here and address the incredibly valuable elephant in the room. Why was there a golden toilet in the first place?
Because of a strange stroke of artistic inspiration, that’s why. The shining throne is a piece of art created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.
The thing was made entirely of solid 18-carat gold, being worth just short of $6.2 million. It weighed about 215 pounds and was fully functional.
Yes, it worked and was connected to a plumbing system. You could’ve done your business in it.
Maurizio had dubbed his artwork “America.” With the title, he wanted to “reflect the excesses of the art market and evoke the American dream of opportunity for all,” wrote The Guardian.
We don’t know about you, but we can’t say we’ve ever dreamer of crapping in a gold toilet.
Anyhow, the toilet was originally installed at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2016. Three years later, it was moved to the Blenheim Palace in Oxford and installed opposite the room where Winston Churchill was born.
The toilet was revealed at a grand party in September 2019. The next day, it was no longer there.
In and Out in Three Minutes
The toilet was stolen the night after the reveal party. It was quite an efficient affair, carried out by a group of five thieves, which included Sheen and Jones.
Around 4:50 a.m., the five crooks plowed through Blenheim Palace’s gates with a stolen Volkswagen Gold and an Isuzu truck. They hopped out, rushed to a small window, and broke through it.
They then pummeled the toilet stall’s door with sledgehammers, ripped the golden toilet off its fittings, and rolled it down the hall and into the waiting truck. Finally, they sped off, completing the entire robbery in around three minutes.
The cops arrived two minutes later, but by that time, the thieves were long gone.
‘I Don’t Plan on Guarding It’
If opportunity makes a thief, though, then the golden toilet presented one heck of an opportunity. As we mentioned earlier, the thing wasn’t exactly well guarded.
In fact, it wasn’t guarded at all. Later investigations found that there were no security guards at the art exhibition or anywhere on Blenheim Palace’s grounds.
The toilet wasn’t secured with anything more than a regular wooden door and a small lock. Additionally, the window the thieves used to enter wasn’t barred, and there were no security cameras pointed at the toilet.
It’s almost like someone wanted the gold toilet to get stolen. Well, it’s more like nobody apparently expected anyone to steal the toilet.
“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,” said Edward Spencer-Churchill, the founder of the Blenheim Art Foundation, in 2019.
Well, Mr. Spencer-Churchill, maybe you should have. Not only did the thing get stolen, but since it was connected to a water line, the resulting flood caused significant damage to the historical palace.
‘520,000’
After stealing the toilet, the gang had to process it down into a more manageable form. What, did you think they would install in their home or something?
It’s unknown when, where, and how the toilet was broken apart. What’s certain, though, is that the thieves melted the gold and cast it into nuggets that were easier to sell, thus destroying the work of art.
After melting the toilet, Sheen started looking for buyers. Later police investigations discovered that within two days of the heist, Sheen was looking to sell gold at around $16,000 per pound.
None of the gold has been recovered, so it’s unclear how much of it the gang was able to sell. Sheen has said he sold some in Birmingham, and his text message show him celebrating the number “520,000.”
He didn’t get to enjoy his riches for long. In October 2019, the cops got on Sheen’s and Jones’ trail and arrested them. As for the other three members of the gang, nobody knows who or where they are.
Found Guilty
Sheen and Jones, however, landed in front of a judge. In March 2025, they both were found guilty of participating in the gold toilet heist.
Neither man has been sentenced yet. They also have several other crimes, including more heists, on their record.
In addition to Sheen and Jones, Fred Doe, a 36-year-old from Windsor, was found guilty of conspiring to sell the stolen gold. He claimed he did not know where the gold had come from, but the jury didn’t buy his explanation.
Jeweller Bora Guccuk, a 41-year-old from London, also appeared in front of the judge. He admitted he had met Sheen and Doe to discuss purchasing gold from them. The jury cleared Guccuk after he explained he had no idea the precious metal was stolen and that the negotiations broke down and no sale ever took place.