Goood Morning POTTY People!
We know last week was stressful with all the craziness in the world…
But, that’s exactly why we are so happy to give you a little “bathroom break”!
Speaking of Bathroom Breaks…
For our Main Story this week, we go to Blenheim Palace in England where we hear the fascinating story of “America” the 18-Carat Gold Toilet.
Perhaps its best to begin is where it all began, in 2016 at The Guggenheim Museum in New York City
Artist, Maurizio Cattelan, created a satirical participatory art sculpture in the form of a fully functional toilet… made of solid 18-carat gold
Cattelan calls the piece “America”
According to the Gugenheim, over 100,000 people waited in line to see and use “America” which was guarded by a security guard, outside the room.
You see, this is a REAL Gold Toilet made of 103 kilograms (227 lb) of gold with an estimated value as high as Six million dollars
(… more on that in a bit)
After wrapping up the exhibit at the Gugenheim, the museum curator Nancy Spector, was contacted by the White House requesting to loan its 1888 Van Gogh painting Landscape with Snow for then President Donald Trump's private rooms…
She declined the offer, and instead offered to loan “America”... but they never got a reply from the White House
The Golden Throne and the exhibit then traveled to England, where it was exhibited at Blenheim Palace, the former home of Winston Churchill.
To promote his exhibit, Cattelan decided to throw a party at the palace; and eventually the event ended at around 2 a.m.
A couple of hours later… thieves broke into the museum and ripped out the toilet, causing a minor flood.
Believe it or not, even to this day… they have yet to recover the golden toilet or identity any of the robbers
But that hasn’t stopped people from creating their own theories on what might have happened…
Did the artist Maurizio Cattelan steal his own piece for publicity?
Did the robbers melt the toilet for gold?
One of our favorite theories we read was this…
Richard Jackson, a gardener at Blenheim Palace, said he thought it was still on the palace grounds.
The robbers probably threw it off a bridge into one of two lakes on the property, he said.
“It ain’t going to rust, is it?” he added. “You could wait a year, then get it out.”
We don’t know about you… but this sounds like the plot of the next Mission Impossible movie
No matter how you think it was stolen… It was nine year old Lacey Chandler, who after visiting the exhibition with her father, summed up the feelings of many....
“Why would someone steal a gold toilet? Someone’s bum’s been on that.”
Let’s get into this week’s POTTY Picks!
There have been many late night television hosts… But one of our personal favorites is David Letterman
Growing up, our nights were not complete without hearing his Top 10 Lists for the day
But perhaps one section that was often overlooked, is how good Dave was with kids
This compilation of him speaking with kids is truly sure to put a smile on your face
Here is our Video of the Week, “Dave Talks to Kids”
We want to keep the good time rolling with this week’s POTTY Picks!
As you know, we like to choose 5 songs for the week ahead, and add them to our ongoing playlist called “POTTY Picks: 2022!”
This week, we feature 5 incredible songs from:
- “One More Time” -Daft Punk
- “Baby I’m Yours” - Breakbot feat. Irfane
- “Beautiful” - Snoop Dogg, Pharell Williams, Uncle Charlie Wilson
- “You” - Tollef
- “Because of You” - Ne-Yo
Well… if you thought that there was only going to be only one mention of a Golden Toilet on a bathroom blog… you were sadly mistaken
Much to our surprise… Golden Toilets are apparently pretty popular
Although Maurizio Cattelan’s “America” may be the most famous golden toilet… it is far from the most expensive
That title belongs to Hong Kong jewelry firm Coronet, which displayed a gold toilet in Shanghai.
This solid gold toilet had a bulletproof seat containing more than 40,000 small diamonds in the seat…
All we can say is… a toilet in a glass box, surrounded by security and hundreds of tourists with cameras… Good luck to anyone looking to steal it
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Thank you all for joining us for this week’s Potty Time with POTTYMINTS!
We hope you had a golden experience reading it - and if you would like, share this blog with someone you think would like it!
The POTTY People is an ever growing community and no matter if this is your first time reading, or you are a regular reader, just know, that we really appreciate you taking the time and reading it!
Now that we got the thank you’s out of the way, its time for the quote of the week!
As we all know, February is Black History Month, and this month we have been concluding our blogs with quotes from strong, inspirational Black Women!
This week’s quote comes from singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist - Nina Simone.
“You’ve got to learn to leave the table when love’s no longer being served”
Nina Simone
We will see you all next week for another episode of Potty Time with POTTYMINTS!
Have a great week!
POTTYMINTS