In this week’s “Extra Sugar”, we’re taking an investigatory look into the underbelly of…No we’re not!! This one is light, lighter than light. We’re talking about fancy bathrooms courtesy of Anthony’s shock and awe over the luxurious ladies room inside the car dealership.
And, y’all, these are fancy. Couple of quick thoughts:
Money doesn't buy taste.
Why are people obsessed with gold finishes?! We mean, it’s fine.
Because you’ve GOT to see some of these for yourself:
Then there’s that world-famous toilet:
And for the history buffs:
Come on y’all, let’s get into it! (Ok, but like for the first time, let’s maybe not get into it – just talk about it from a safe spray distance.)
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Transcript
Salina: Hey, Nikki.
Nikki: Hey, Salina.
Salina: And hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's edition of extra sugar.
Salina: Hey, y'all.
Salina: So, season four, episode 17, anthony goes into this bathroom at the car dealership, or restroom, rather, and he's taken aback by the luxury and comfort of the ladies room.
Salina: Was it that fancy?
Salina: I don't know.
Salina: It was fine.
Salina: It was big enough for five actors and a camera crew, so that was definitely at play.
Salina: But it definitely got me curious about what we might find if we look for the fanciest bathrooms in the world.
Salina: What makes them so fancy?
Salina: Where can we find them?
Salina: Here's what I can tell you.
Salina: Gone of the days of bathrooms for mere convenience.
Salina: It needs to be luxurious, elegant, refined, statement making.
Salina: You know, really tell the people, you can't have what I have.
Salina: So, with that in mind, and thanks to the Brooklyn based real estate and home improvement website brownstoner just want to give them credit for the history of the bathroom that they gave me.
Salina: Oh, good.
Salina: I thought we could go through a little things about bathroom history to cement how much things have changed over time.
Nikki: We don't stare at each other on benches anymore while we all go at the same time.
Salina: Darable.
Salina: So, you know, bathrooms have been around a really long time, and I think Nikki is alluding to some Roman bath, which is good because things like plumbing and sewers and toilets, even hot and water, hot and cold water systems, rather, can be traced back to the ancient world, including Roman times.
Salina: But I can't unsee the things that I read similar to what you're talking about right now about public bathrooms at that time.
Salina: So it's impressive, but still I'm not trying to be rude, just gross.
Salina: Some of it was just a little gross.
Salina: I can describe their wiping method if you're interested.
Salina: You good?
Nikki: I think I'm set.
Salina: Okay.
Salina: You let me know if you change your mind because I can't unsee it.
Salina: That's what I'm saying.
Salina: Other things haven't changed that much.
Salina: Public bathrooms, for instance.
Salina: They talked a lot about how they were for poor people and money bought access to privacy.
Salina: And if you think that sounds elitist, please tell me the last time that you think, oh, I don't know, beyonce saw the inside of one.
Nikki: Oh, that's true.
Salina: I know I'm going in them all the time, and you're going in them all the time, but we're not beyonce soap.
Salina: There's another thing that really rose to the top for me.
Salina: Been around forever, too.
Salina: Was used by Romans, Gauls and Celts.
Salina: It's interesting that both it and plumbing were lost for a while.
Salina: Like, people were using it and it was there, and then it was just gone.
Salina: Plumbing doesn't return.
Salina: Until the 1850s.
Salina: I was sort of being put in the mind of, like, if there really was a zombie apocalypse, we would lose technology.
Salina: And so I think that there wasn't a zombie apocalypse.
Salina: But if there were people who knew how to do plumbing and then those people disappeared, then that technology or that ability is going to disappear.
Salina: So I liken it kind of to that soap, on the other hand, that was a little less clear to me when I was reading it.
Salina: But plumbing, we get back by the 1850s, soap resurfaces much sooner in the 15 hundreds.
Salina: A lot of people didn't use it.
Salina: I don't blame them because apparently it was so like harsh yep.
Salina: That it would peel people's flesh off.
Salina: And there's what, let me tell you, that money is going to come up a lot in this, Nikki, because only the rich could access milder versions.
Salina: I don't know, man, I'm just reporting the news.
Nikki: Oh, my Lord.
Salina: Sad, really.
Salina: Today, especially in Western culture, bathrooms are largely individual experiences.
Salina: But much to what you were talking about before, historically it was something different.
Salina: But I am thinking specifically about public bathhouses in this part.
Salina: Not that there's not some experiences that are similar to that, but a little different then.
Salina: And it was an integral part of society.
Salina: People did everything there.
Salina: They socialized there, they did business there.
Salina: I mean, like business deals just to be other business.
Salina: But to be fair on that point, I don't know that's much difference than two people striking a bill or a business deal in a steam room or something.
Salina: So there is something to that, but they also ate there, apparently.
Nikki: Wait, okay, I'm sorry, hold on 1 second.
Nikki: These people are going to the bathroom and like doing number two.
Salina: Well, these are public bathhouses.
Salina: Bathhouse, okay.
Salina: Bathhouses.
Salina: Yeah, bathhouses.
Salina: So we're not necessarily talking about toilets right now.
Salina: I know, we were just talking about public restrooms.
Salina: I'm with you.
Salina: Okay, that would be too much.
Nikki: I was like, I don't know why you're so okay with that.
Salina: I'm like, it's fine.
Nikki: Why are you so permissive?
Salina: In fact, I read that they would even play board games in there.
Nikki: Okay, but it's a bathhouse, not a bathroom, so I'm cool with that.
Salina: That's right.
Salina: In the 17th century, the whole family were fast forwarding.
Salina: Quite a big part.
Salina: Oh, actually, I'm sorry, I skipped over one thing.
Salina: A big reason for the demise of the public bathing plague.
Salina: Well, sure, so makes sense.
Salina: It's a little bit of a buzzkill.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: Zombie apocalypse and whatnot.
Salina: That's right.
Salina: They didn't really have their transmission details down, if I'm remembering what I read correctly.
Nikki: But either way, just enough to know probably we shouldn't be touching all the same surfaces.
Salina: That's probably enough.
Salina: Okay.
Salina: So anyways, back to the 17th century, and we are moving at quite a clip forward, but the whole family would take turns bathing in the same water.
Salina: I read in some places it was once a week or once a month or even at larger intervals.
Salina: It sounds like the poorer you were, the less you bathed.
Salina: So this is what I'm saying.
Salina: Money keeps coming.
Salina: Up until indoor plumbing was a thing, the bathroom situations were the opposite of convenience.
Salina: So tubs were kept in the pantry between uses.
Salina: Chamber pots were under the beds and the privy or the outhouse was out back.
Salina: So that's like three things that are all in one place now and they're all over the house.
Nikki: A lot of wasted time.
Salina: It's a lot of wasted time.
Nikki: A lot of trying to remember where he left that darn chamber pot.
Salina: Was it behind the couch?
Salina: I was just thinking about the accidents that had to happen with that.
Salina: This is just not good.
Salina: It's not long after indoor plumbing that we get the first packaged toilet paper.
Salina: But I want you.
Salina: This does not feel long enough.
Salina: Ago, 1857, it would take more than 30 years for it to find its way onto the roll, courtesy of Scott tissue man.
Salina: Scott's been around a long time with his tissue or her tissue, but my guess is it's his tissue.
Salina: Apparently it was really hard to sell because people were embarrassed to ask for it.
Salina: So, like, some places would keep it behind the counter, so you'd have to literally go ask someone for it.
Nikki: Would just rather smell like poo.
Salina: It's like, I don't know.
Salina: Well, that's just how much time has changed.
Salina: I think people were much more modest a long time ago or they didn't want to be seen getting it off the shelves.
Nikki: Isn't it funny how they weren't that far removed from using the bathroom with other.
Salina: Hey, Tom.
Salina: Hey, Paul.
Salina: I know, and I'm so embarrassed to.
Nikki: Ask for toilet paper.
Salina: It's interesting, isn't it?
Salina: So, any guesses when the modern toilet reaches the US.
Salina: To be clear, by modern I mean very similar to what you would see in your own bathroom.
Salina: A valveless toilet made out of vitreous china.
Nikki: I thought a bunch of words.
Nikki: I don't know what any of that means.
Salina: I would say porcelain, but that's just what they told me.
Nikki: 1923.
Salina: So it's a little bit later than that, actually.
Salina: So after World War One and when American soldiers saw them, did I say after?
Salina: I'm sorry, this whole time I've been reading it as World War II.
Nikki: And.
Salina: Now I'm concerned that I may have left off a two for World War after one of the world wars.
Salina: That's what you need to know is that American soldiers at the time, they saw them all over the UK stamped with a patent holder's name.
Salina: You're never going to guess this, I'll just tell you.
Salina: The Crapper.
Salina: As in Thomas crapper.
Salina: Not always totally associated in the show.
Nikki: Sure.
Salina: Poor guy.
Nikki: I'm telling you.
Salina: Well, eventually, not then.
Salina: He was proud to don the name Crapper.
Nikki: Do you think there's someone still named Crapper?
Salina: That's a really good question.
Salina: Or do you think they were like.
Nikki: I'm going to just like someone in this.
Nikki: I'll be right on that.
Salina: All right.
Salina: So showers became more popular by the 1930s.
Salina: We're just going through all the different aspects of a bathroom.
Nikki: If you haven't I'm trying to reorient myself because for some reason, I think I set myself off on the path that we're talking about.
Nikki: Toilet.
Nikki: Toilet, yeah.
Salina: Well, there's a lot of toilet action.
Salina: It is the centerpiece of a bathroom to some degree, right.
Salina: Say.
Salina: So they become more popular in the 1930s.
Salina: Any guesses why?
Nikki: No.
Nikki: Because I'm stuck on 30% of Crapper men worked as a laborer and 50% of Crapper women worked as a maid.
Nikki: Well, it's just I think there are still crappers.
Nikki: There are still I can tell you their average lifespan.
Salina: Yeah, there you go.
Salina: Good.
Salina: Can you tell me if it was after World War One or two?
Nikki: His name was Thomas Crapper.
Salina: Is that what she said?
Nikki: I found him on this list.
Salina: Oh, perfect.
Salina: Sorry.
Salina: Go ahead.
Nikki: Tell me your question again, you low.
Salina: Key Google over there.
Salina: The question was showers becoming popular in the 1930s?
Salina: Any guesses why?
Nikki: Does it have something to do with mines and miners?
Nikki: People who worked in the mines?
Salina: I was with you.
Salina: Okay.
Salina: I was just trying to process the thought process there and go through because.
Nikki: They'Re covered in dust.
Nikki: I have read that in homes, in areas where there are a lot where mining is a huge industry, they have a separate shower situation because they keep the mine dust away from the rest of the family's living quarters.
Salina: Well, that's really interesting.
Salina: So that could play into it.
Nikki: Interesting?
Salina: Well, I don't know the full history of the shower, so that could certainly be at play.
Salina: From the article I read, it had more to do with longer commutes and thanks to the automobile, meant compressed time to get ready in the morning.
Salina: So there wasn't time for these luxurious baths.
Salina: They needed to get going.
Nikki: I don't think the car really helped us all that much.
Nikki: I think it actually set us back.
Salina: It's really something to consider, isn't it?
Salina: So the rest of the world, and even most of Europe trails behind us in bathroom advances.
Salina: London only became completely indoor plumbed 50 years ago, and old Privies can still be found in the backyards of row houses there.
Nikki: Oh, that's crazy.
Salina: And I'm just going to say that you've been to Europe.
Salina: I've been to Europe.
Salina: The bathroom situation is very interesting there.
Salina: So everything's small.
Nikki: Very small.
Nikki: It's like very small.
Salina: You can tell it was an afterthought, right?
Nikki: Maybe that's true.
Nikki: I thought it was just because beforehand, I thought it was just because Europeans long ago embrace the idea that bigger does not always mean better.
Nikki: And a giant bathroom is a lot to clean.
Salina: Yeah, they embrace that because they didn't make the space for it in ancient times.
Nikki: That's true.
Salina: But I do agree with that.
Salina: Right.
Salina: Like coffees.
Salina: They're not venteeing over there.
Salina: So I definitely think that could be in the sauce.
Salina: Like why?
Salina: Maybe they don't make room for it.
Nikki: Right.
Salina: But I mean, even for me, I'm five two and all of the sinks are too short.
Nikki: Really small?
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: I'm like in a squat, like washing my hands, everything's.
Salina: Like you feel almost like doll house sized or something.
Nikki: I have this very vivid memory of being in Paris in an airbnb sort of situation.
Nikki: And the toilet just was like, no distance from the sink.
Nikki: And then being in the shower and I couldn't figure out how to adjust the shower head.
Nikki: I think now it's because it wasn't adjustable.
Nikki: I do literally crouch down to wash my hair.
Nikki: Oh, my God, that was fun.
Salina: That does sound like a good time.
Nikki: They also had this weird like the shower would come from the sides of the wall, which I never fully figured.
Nikki: Like, I could never figure out how to get it to work.
Salina: Every shower is interesting.
Nikki: Yeah.
Nikki: I'm too simple for those things.
Nikki: I just want an on off switch.
Salina: Yeah, well, most of them are on electric water heaters.
Salina: It's just like a whole different experience.
Salina: I think for Americans, it's just the setup.
Nikki: We're simple.
Salina: Just different.
Nikki: We're just simple.
Salina: So I thought that we could really quickly talk about if there's anything if you were going to make your perfect bathroom right now, is there anything that you would just have to have in it?
Nikki: Heated floors.
Salina: Oh, that's a good one.
Nikki: My mother in law got that in her bathroom before they moved and it was really nice.
Nikki: It's very luxurious.
Nikki: Very nice.
Nikki: And I also have to have a big bathtub.
Salina: Okay.
Salina: Those are your two non negotiables in your perfect bathroom that neither one of us get to have?
Nikki: I think so.
Salina: Well, I've not been in your bathroom.
Salina: Maybe your bathroom is lovely, like your master bath.
Nikki: No, it needs to be redone.
Nikki: So this is an easy exercise for me because I've been thinking about that and the things I need to have.
Nikki: But also our bathroom.
Nikki: I wish it were smaller.
Nikki: It's a lot to clean.
Salina: I was thinking about that, like in the 90s.
Salina: It feels like they just started making really big bathrooms, but not for a purpose.
Nikki: Right.
Nikki: In our old house, Kyle and I had split vanities on opposite sides of the bathroom, which also was really lovely for both him and me.
Nikki: It's not because I think Kyle bathroom I wouldn't quite call it that.
Nikki: I'm not sure how I would describe it, but we were just like I was on this side of the bathroom.
Nikki: He was on this side of the bathroom, and it was still like a square, like a wide area.
Nikki: But I'm not saying he's gross and I don't want to be around him.
Nikki: Actually, one of my favorite things I've ever seen on social media about being married and sharing space with a man is this person panning across the bathroom, and it's just like, covered in a woman's crap.
Nikki: It's just all over the sink.
Nikki: Like, just makeup and hairbrushes and whatever.
Nikki: And she gets all the way to the end and she's like, I just really hate sharing a bathroom with my husband.
Nikki: He's just so messy.
Nikki: Why can't he put that away?
Nikki: And there's like one singular tube of toothpaste right in the middle of the vanity amongst all her things.
Nikki: And that's how I feel in a bathroom.
Nikki: I feel like I just take everything over.
Salina: It is definitely more detailed on my side of the bathroom.
Nikki: Yeah.
Nikki: So I think the split vanity also, I had forgotten, was really critical.
Nikki: And I also really like a separate water closet with the toilet in a separate area from the rest of the bathroom.
Nikki: It's just convenient.
Salina: That is all very fair.
Salina: So I will say that if I was going to redo, when I think about having, like a soaking tub or like a claw foot tub with the claw feet or whatever, just because I think they're really pretty to the point of my friend great, but it feels like you need support staff to get in and out.
Salina: I mean, talk about your problems of slippery when wet.
Salina: Spacious is nice.
Salina: Again, I mean, there is a point to it, but then you also need the appropriate amount of shelving and cabinetry.
Salina: And that is the thing that felt like it was missing in the 90s.
Salina: Like, we have this, but you have nowhere to put any of this stuff we're talking about.
Nikki: Right.
Salina: And then this is something Casey and I both are on board with, which is probably I think you're going to think this is really weird, but a TV in the bathroom?
Salina: As the person who just constantly needs to be entertained.
Salina: I do listen to podcasts, like, while I'm showering.
Salina: And it's just like it's very hard to hear.
Salina: I have to turn up everything really loud.
Salina: It would be so much nicer if I just had a TV right there in the shower with me.
Salina: I hear it.
Salina: And they have those systems that you can have that in your shower now.
Salina: So is it a weird ask?
Salina: Yes, but I'm not alone.
Salina: And that sometimes is the best thing that I can ask for is not to be all out alone.
Salina: As Nikki looks at me like I'm a total weirdo across the table and.
Nikki: Then quiet, I just like, that's the one place where there's not noise.
Salina: You're a parent.
Salina: Especially every mom I know, if I'm, like, saying I always listen to podcasts in the car, they're like, I listen to silence in the car.
Nikki: Just quiet.
Salina: And you need that.
Salina: And I need Netflix.
Salina: I would also like an aromatherapy station.
Nikki: In my shower, which is a thing.
Salina: That'S a possibility I learned.
Salina: Didn't know that was possible, but saw.
Nikki: It hunt some real estate.
Nikki: Well, I have to say, I think there are things I don't even know to ask for.
Nikki: My stuff is all based in my simpleton life.
Nikki: Well, I need to know what the rich people are getting.
Salina: Yeah, that part was all new to me.
Salina: So I did not know that before.
Salina: I watched some fancy Beverly Hill buying Beverly Hill show and I was like, how is that a thing?
Salina: Sometimes that's why I think it's actually kind of dangerous to be exposed to more stuff because the Keeping Up with the Joneses, it's like a real thing.
Nikki: You realize all the stuff.
Salina: You don't have all the stuff and.
Nikki: Forget all the stuff you do.
Salina: We'll go ahead and let's get to the main event, fanciest bathrooms in the world.
Salina: Bathrooms that leave you thinking, who are these people?
Salina: And do they need a friend?
Salina: So I'm going to tell you as I look through a bunch of these, here are a couple of my top.
Salina: Takeaways one.
Salina: So much gold.
Salina: Everyone had gold toilets, tubs, fixtures, embellishments.
Salina: I don't really understand.
Salina: I mean, to each their own, I suppose.
Salina: But if you have a gold toilet, I'm just going to say, you know what you're doing in it, right?
Nikki: I want bathroom things white because I want to know that it's clean.
Nikki: We did right, a black bathtub one time and I was like, I have no idea what I'm getting into.
Nikki: I just want white.
Nikki: Just want to be able to see the clean.
Salina: Yeah, that's fair.
Salina: But also it just fills something.
Salina: I don't know.
Nikki: This is a extravagant extra.
Salina: Little extravagant, but that's what this segment is about.
Salina: It's about extravagance.
Salina: But my second thought in all of that is like, this was a really good reminder that you can have all the money in the world and it doesn't buy you good taste.
Salina: Okay, all the money in the world.
Salina: But don't fear, I avoided those like the plague one might get in the Roman bathhouse.
Salina: Instead, I've curated a list of seven drop dead gorgeous bathrooms that will leave you saying best or most unique features is going to be one category for how we break them down.
Salina: And then we'll also break it down by best views.
Salina: So let's start with that first one with best or most unique features.
Salina: The first one is 22 carat villas in Dubai.
Salina: I'm calling this one well, I don't think I call this one.
Salina: I think the article called it this, but it's Aka the Million Dollar Bathtub.
Salina: So this is a beachfront villa community in Dubai.
Salina: They individually start at 10 million.
Salina: Each villa includes a marble master bathroom.
Salina: But the most expensive of the 22 villas there are fitted with $1 million crystal bathtubs.
Salina: This isn't just any crystal.
Salina: It's Amazonian rainforest stone that was flown to Florence, where it was then hand carved for hundreds of hours to create these amazing, though perhaps ethically questionable pieces of usable art.
Salina: And there are three variety green quartz, rock crystal and rose quartz.
Salina: One especially created or excuse me, one was especially created for a billionaire socialite that I don't know, but tamra ecclestone, and it was also decorated with diamonds and gold taps.
Salina: I want to be very clear.
Salina: I don't need a $1 million crystal bathtub.
Salina: That is not very interesting to me.
Salina: This is definitely under the category of like, I've just never seen a feature like this before.
Salina: I should also say we're going to link to these.
Salina: I can only say so much.
Salina: It's really something that you have to see.
Salina: I have to tell you, the green one is stunning.
Nikki: I'm imagining you said one was quartz.
Nikki: I think you said two of them were quartz, but one of them, for some reason, in my head, is a rose quartz.
Nikki: Rose quartz pink color.
Nikki: Yeah.
Nikki: That sounds beautiful.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: I mean, they're really I'd be afraid of breaking it.
Salina: You can't break it.
Salina: Okay.
Salina: Yeah, I would hope not.
Salina: You know what I'm afraid of?
Salina: I'm afraid of it breaking everything else, because these are like I think they're like two tons or something.
Salina: It's like putting a car in your bathroom.
Salina: Let's see.
Salina: Next on the list is Anantera Kiva sunset villa in the Maldives.
Salina: And this is what I'm calling the Whirlpool with a view.
Salina: So just picture it.
Salina: You're in your own private overwater bungalow in a lagoon, surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean, arguably the most beautiful water in the entire world.
Salina: But what's that in front of you?
Salina: Oh, it's your own infinity pool.
Salina: And what are you sitting in?
Salina: A glass bottomed whirlpool tub.
Salina: That's right.
Salina: Views from above.
Salina: Views from below.
Salina: Well, look at the ocean, guys.
Salina: Views all around somewhere.
Nikki: Number two, a mile below you, is a scuba diver watching you take a bath.
Salina: That's right.
Salina: Well, they also have views, I guess.
Salina: All right, number three.
Salina: And the final one in this category is at the Mandrake Hotel in London, aka the penthouse bathroom.
Salina: This one has all the bells and whistles, has an enclosed rainfall shower.
Salina: And I'm not talking about a rainfall shower head.
Salina: I'm talking about the built in rain.
Salina: It is like you are in the rain.
Salina: They have a freestanding claw foot bathtub, high end bathroom products, italian towels, blah, blah, blah.
Salina: But the main event is the six person jacuzzi bath with retractable roof opening up to the London night sky for a little star gazing.
Salina: They don't say this on their own website, but I read elsewhere that this party tub is also apparently fitted with disco lights.
Salina: So there you go.
Salina: Moving on to the best views when it comes to bathrooms.
Salina: So the first one is the Hail Kumana in Hawaii, aka the Zen master.
Salina: The Hail Kumana is a 10,500 square foot property with five bedrooms and five and a half baths, including a stunning Balinese style bathroom.
Salina: It's an open air space, so there's, like, lofted, wooded ceiling.
Salina: It almost looks like teak.
Salina: There's no walls, so the double vanities and the slate shower almost look like they're suspended in midair.
Salina: And then up the center is an in ground water feature with stepping stones that lead over to a sunken in bathtub, all surrounded by tropical greenery.
Salina: Number two on this particular list is the Madiqui Hills Private Game Lodge in South Africa.
Salina: I'm sorry, that was probably a way off pronunciation.
Salina: I apologize, I didn't have time to look up pronunciations.
Salina: We're calling this Aka the safari bathroom.
Salina: That's right.
Salina: The Honeymoon suite in this private game lodge includes an outdoor terrace bathroom where guests can watch elephants, lions and other safari animals roam as they sip champagne in the claw foot bathtub or rinse off in your own private outdoor shower after an extended dip in your own plunge pool.
Salina: Next on the list is the Atlantis Dubai.
Salina: And this is the Aka underwater suite.
Salina: Here, your bathroom comes with floor to ceiling windows that look out into the Ambassador Lagoon so you soak in your tub whilst you also soak up the views of marine life.
Salina: Again, underwater.
Salina: Love the view a lot.
Salina: You can buy your own in Dubai's floating seahorse villas.
Salina: And in case you're wondering, yes, it's literally a floating villa.
Salina: And then very last, but certainly not least, probably my very favorite on the list is the Lion Sands Game Reserve in South Africa, aka.
Salina: The treehouse lionsand's.
Salina: Guests have the option of adding on a night at one of the three or four reserves premium treehouses.
Salina: And the Kingston Treehouse is the creme de la creme of them all, with a glaston bathroom, rain shower and double vanity.
Salina: Let me tell you, Nikki, that this treehouse is truly magical.
Salina: And it almost brought tears to my eyes just looking at the pictures, so I can't imagine what one feels like in real life.
Salina: All to say, please go look at these pictures that we put in the show notes, because it's worth it.
Salina: And then there's a lot of really weird ones in between.
Salina: Cool, but we love them.
Salina: And then there's one more thing I just have to mention.
Salina: It's a toilet named America that is artwork but also fully functional.
Salina: It is a solid 18 karat gold, 227 pound satirical commentary on art, money, greed and capitalism.
Salina: You know about this?
Salina: Okay.
Salina: I remember hearing about it because it wound up being installed in the Guggenheim.
Salina: It's by Italian artist Mauricio Catalan.
Salina: He made it in 2016, and it gets put on the fifth floor.
Salina: Like to be used in the Guggenheim to make a statement.
Salina: This commentary that he's trying to make about wealth and gaps in wealth and all stuff that's true.
Salina: It's an interesting way to do it.
Salina: And that sounds weird.
Salina: It's not weird.
Salina: This is where it gets weird.
Salina: In 2017, Guggenheim offered to loan former President Trump and the White House the toilet after rejecting his request to borrow a Vincent Van Gogh piece their offer was declined.
Salina: So already, one of the reasons I mentioned this is because this toilet, just a place you go to the bathroom, has already had two fairly big media splashes in the year it's existed on this Earth.
Salina: Making a splash probably not the best word for a toilet, but you get where I'm going then.
Salina: In 2019, it was displayed in the former family home of Winston Churchill.
Salina: But here's the thing, it was stolen within days of arrival.
Salina: Several people have been arrested, but no one has been formally charged.
Salina: Police believe it was the work of a criminal gang.
Salina: While the investigation was still ongoing as of last year, it's likely that the toilet was destroyed and melted down into golden bars.
Salina: That will be worth somewhere in the range of 1.25 million.
Salina: If it had just been the artwork complete, it would have been worth much more, around 6 million.
Salina: If you're thinking what I was thinking, which is that the artist was probably behind the notorious heist.
Salina: He denies it, but apparently also praised the work as a kind of Robin Hood inspired action.
Salina: But, like, if anyone knows where the tola is, DM us, I'm sure we could work something out.
Salina: Today, I'm going to take us out with a little poetry.
Salina: May your showers be like rain and may your tub be freestanding.
Salina: And whoever finds the golden toilet, why you've really stuck the landing.
Salina: You know the drill.
Salina: DM us, email us or contact us from the website.
Salina: And that's this week's extra sugar.