A toilet is making headlines. The reason? It's made of solid 18-carat gold and was auctioned at Sotheby's on November 18, fetching $12.1 million (€10.5 million).

The fully functional toilet was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan — also known for his duct-taped banana, which sold for $6.2 million at auction in 2024. Described as a commentary on excessive wealth, the artwork's name is also fitting for the current US president: "America."

For gold, it seems, is in fashion at the White House. From the gold bric-a-brac adorning the Oval Office mantelpiece to the gold faucets and fixtures in the newly renovated Lincoln bathroom to the golden cursive signage popping up on walls and entrances, Donald Trump can't seem to get enough of the shiny yellow stuff.

While his style choices are questionable, his apparent obsession with gold has deep historic and cultural roots. Gold has fascinated the world for millennia. Every civilization across time and place has valued it in some form or another, imbuing it with special significance and power.

An ancient obsession

The oldest gold findings date back some 6,500 years. Known as the "Varna gold," they were uncovered in 1972 in Bulgaria at a burial site.

The gold artifacts, which included jewelry, decorations, tools and weapons, and even a golden penis sheath, were concentrated in just a few graves, indicating early social hierarchies. Even then, gold meant status, power, wealth. 

And not just in Europe: Similar concentrated grave findings from the Mapungubwe Kingdom in present-day South Africa, dating to 1050-1270 CE, show that it signified social standing, there too. 

The Inca and Aztec empires even legally restricted who was allowed to wear gold. 

"Such [gold] ornaments were, in large part, about establishing identities; they were for asserting status, privilege, separation and distinction," writes Joanne Pillsbury, curator of Ancient American Art at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.

Gold: The metal of the gods  

Gold's special significance has also long been about the divine. Around the world, gold has adorned the regalia of rulers, the domes and towers of churches and the facades of temples, suggesting the regal, celestial and eternal.

Ancient Egyptians believed the flesh of gods was gold, while ancient American civilizations thought using it was a way to bridge the earthly and supernatural worlds.

The Ancient Greeks even personified gold as a god, Chrysos.

Ancient Greek lyric poet Pindar wrote in the 5th century BC, "Gold is a child of Zeus; neither moth nor rust devours it; but the mind of man is devoured by this supreme possession." Even back then, gold-crazed was a thing.

The indestructible, shape-shifting superhero among metals 

Gold's symbolic power is rooted in its actual power — its unique qualities. It is what's known as a "noble metal," meaning it resists corrosion and tarnish, is unaffected by most acids, and can be found in nature in its raw form. Gold needs no transformation to shine; it is simply there, bright amidst rocks and dirt. 

Gold is also very dense, weighing significantly more per cubic centimeter than silver, iron, copper and lead. While it feels hefty to hold, it is a comparatively soft metal, making it easy to work with. It can be hammered or pressed extremely thin and drawn into the finest of wires, and it conducts both heat and electricity. Melt down a golden object, and it can immediately be formed anew.

In short, it is versatile and virtually indestructible, a sort of attractive, shape-shifting, eternal superhero among metals. 

And, of course, gold is rare. It is commonly estimated that all the gold ever mined in history would add up to a single cube measuring a mere 22 meters (73 ft) per side.

A gift of wealth 

This scarcity has helped the metal keep its value throughout history. It is also one reason why it's considered a stable long-term investment, especially in volatile times.

The gold jewelry and other gold items gifted in at various life moments in numerous cultures around the world — from baby jewelry in Hispanic countries to Zodiac symbols for the Lunar New Year in China to golden wedding gifts in India — therefore symbolize not only a blessing and wish for happiness and prosperity; they are a concrete gift of wealth in and of itself, one intended to provide the recipient with a measure of future financial agency. 

For some, like New York-based author Nadya Agrawal, this wealth carries a more profound symbolism. "For my grandmothers, giving me gold as an investment in my future safety was their feminism. This is how they maintained a matriarchy in a strongly patriarchal world," she explained in an essay examining the gold she received per Indian custom as a newborn.

Too much of a good thing?

Even metaphorically speaking, nothing seems to top gold: Think "Golden boy/girl," "as good as gold," "silence is golden," and "heart of gold," to name a few.  

Yet despite its timeless beauty and value, gold's positive symbolism has its limits. Too much of it, applied in the wrong way, and it arguably loses its luster, conferring a negative perception.    

The ancient Greek King Midas is perhaps the oldest example. According to the myth, the gods granted him the ability to turn everything he touched into gold—a curse rather than a blessing, as his food and even his family were transformed into gold.

In more modern times, ostentatious displays of gold can communicate a lack of good taste and or class, even as it explicitly displays wealth. 

 

Take the Indian businessman Datta Phuge, who became famous in 2013 after sporting a shirt made from 3 kilos (6.6 lbs) of gold, then costing some $250,000. Some admired it, but others disdainfully dismissed it as excessive, he told the BBC at the time.

Meanwhile, social media users are mocking Trump's Oval Office gold decorations, with rumors circulating that they are actually painted plastic appliques from Home Depot. 

During a tour of the office, a Fox News host directly asked him whether that was the case, and he denied it. "You know the one thing with gold?" he said. "You can't imitate gold, real gold. There's no paint that imitates gold."

Ultimately, perhaps gold — its timeless value and potential tackiness — is best summed up by historian Peter Bernstein: "Nothing is as useless and useful all at the same time." Tell that to the future owner of a golden toilet.

Update: This article was first published before the auction of "America" and was updated after the gold toilet was sold.

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier