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A solid gold toilet, created by an Italian artist and titled "America", was stolen in a British art exhibition Saturday morning.
A 66-year-old man was arrested in connection with the robbery, according to Thames Valley police, but the investigation was continuing on Sunday.
"We are making every effort to locate the offenders and the toilets that have been stolen," Detective Inspector Jess Milne said in a police statement.
According to the police, the toilets were removed from the Blenheim Palace around 4:50 pm Saturday by suspects who broke into the historic building. Because the toilets were both a piece of plumbing and works of art, their removal caused flooding and "considerable damage," police said.
The authorities estimate that the suspects fled in two vehicles.
According to an estimate from the Blenheim Palace, the toilets have an estimated value of $ 5 million. They were created by the Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan. Cattelan described his 2016 work as "1% of the art for the 99%", a commentary on the inequality of wealth. The 18-carat crapper was previously installed in the bathroom at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and people waited for hours before they could use it – or just take a great selfie.
Cattelan is known as a joker in the art world, but he told The New York Times that the robbery was quite serious.
"I would have liked it to be a joke," he told The Times.
Dominic Hare, CEO of Blenheim Palace, said that he knew that showing such a valuable piece involved a risk, but that it was worth bringing great art to visitors.
"It is deeply ironic that a work of art representing the American dream and the idea of an elite object made available to all are almost instantly removed and hidden" he said in a statement. "We hope that the wonderful work of our dear friend Maurizio Cattelan will be immortalized by this stupid and useless act."
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