September 2019
Blenheim Palace
Oxfordshire, England
April 12, 2024
Would you risk jail time for a toilet? A man has pleaded guilty to stealing a $6 million toilet from Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill and seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. The toilet was a fully functional, 55 lb, toilet made of 18-carat gold. It was on display as part of an exhibition of Maurizio Cattalan’s work. In addition to viewing the work, visitors could also schedule a time to use it. The founder of the Blenheim Art Foundation and brother of the current duke believed that plumbing the toilet was the only security it needed. “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.” As we now know, fear of feces did not protect the toilet from thieves. Thieves like James Sheen, who pled guilty to burglary, converting or transporting criminal property and conspiracy to do the same. You can learn more about the theft here and the guilty plea here.
March 7, 2025
The trial of 3 of the 5 men accused of stealing and disposing of a $6 million gold toilet from Blenheim Palace in 2019 has begun. Additionally, video has been released of the thieves making off with their golden booty. For those of you unfamiliar with this crime, allow me to paint you a picture. The 18th century is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. The current duke still lives there but it is partially open to the public and it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill, brother of the current duke, has been staging large-scale contemporary art exhibits at the palace since 2014 through his Blenheim Art Foundation. In September 2019, they opened an exhibit of Mauritzio Cattelan’s work, including “America”, a fully functional toilet made of 18 karat gold and weighing over 200 lbs. Depending on which report you are looking at it, was on display in the bathroom next to the room Sir Winston Churchill was born in, Churchill’s bathroom, or the tour guides’ bathroom. Visitors could even book a time to use the artwork as a toilet is intended to be used. A few days after the exhibit opened “America” was stolen and since it was functional its unprofessional removal resulted in major flooding. The thieves smashed through the gate in two cars, used sledgehammers to shatter a window, and demolish the locked door that stood between them and “America.” They were in and out in 5 minutes. That kind of efficiency is only possible with research and planning. It just so happens that one of the defendants was accused of doing some reconnaissance. Visiting once before and after the exhibit opened, taking photos of the window and door lock that were damaged. This current slate of defendants have all pleaded not guilty to charges of burglary and conspiring to transfer criminal property. Last year a fourth defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy and transferring criminal property. However, not much is known about the last person arrested for their involvement with the theft. You can learn more about it here, here, and here or check out a video here.
- Gentle Reader, I think there are some valuable lessons we can take away from this theft. First and foremost Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill was fully confident no one would ever think about stealing “America.” Prior to the exhibit’s opening he was asked if there would be any extra security for “America”, you know because it was made out of $6 million worth of gold. To which Spencer-Churchill infamously responded, “[i]t’s not going to be the easiest thing to nick… 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.” This reminds me of the confidence with which people boldly stated that the Titanic was unsinkable. It feels like boldly saying that something will never happen, while ignoring the very real possibility that it could, is just inviting trouble. Gentle Reader, please do not invite trouble. Moving on to why Spencer-Churchill believed he had nothing to worry about. First there is the erroneous belief that plumbing in a toilet was a security feature and not a weakness. This is an artwork that if stolen will cause your building to flood. No one would ever shut off the water so they could steal a toilet in a manner that would not harm the rest of the building. For this reason alone I would want to do everything in my power to deter thieves. Also, the notion that no one would attempt to steal $6 million worth of gold because someone may have pooped in it feels like a security measure a 5 year old would whisper into their favorite uncle’s ear while giggling uncontrollably. We all need to think about museum security like a lasagna, the more layers it has the longer it takes to eat. While worrying about getting soaked in toilet water, the ick factor of toilet hygiene and Blenheim Palace’s standard security practices are all layers, they do make for a rather thin lasagna. In this case the lasagna was quickly gobbled up and not filling enough to stop people from gorging on the $6 million dessert. Most of us do not need a giant lasagna but if we temporarily add something special to the desert menu, we have to add a few layers to compensate.
March 28, 2025
- Gentle Reader, we have some exciting updates on the 2019 theft of a $6 million gold sculpture from Blenheim Palace. You may remember that a solid gold toilet that visitors could book times to do their business in had been stolen from the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. The sculpture, America, was part of an exhibit of Maurizio Cattelan’s work and had only been on display for two days before it was taken. First up, we have verdicts for the 3 men on trial for the theft. Michael Jones was convicted of burglary and we have learned something new about the reconnaissance he did prior to the theft. While we already knew that he had visited the palace before and after the toilet went on display, we just learned that he had booked a time to take care of business in America. In this case you would think that taking care of business would be limited to scoping out the room it was in and how it was physically attached to the building. Well, Jones also took care of his personal business and said the experience was “splendid.” Fred Doe, AKA Fredrick Sines, was found guilty of conspiracy to transfer criminal property for turning the stolen gold into cash. Doe discussed selling pieces of the toilet with James Sheen in text messages that seemed to be negotiating a car sale. Last year Sheen pled guilty to burglary, conspiracy, and transferring criminal property. He is considered the “common denominator,” the connection between all of the men involved with the theft. Also, his DNA was found at the crime scene and a pair of his sweatpants were covered in gold fragments. The third man on trial was charged with conspiracy but the jury found him not guilty. You can learn more about it here and here.
- The next item of business is finding the rest of the men involved in the theft. The surveillance footage showed five participants but so far only two of them have been charged. Apparently, several arrests have been made but investigators lacked enough evidence to formally file charges. The investigators want to let the world know that they are still actively looking for the other three men who helped steal America. You can learn more about it here.
- Last but certainly not least, the BBC recently published the kind of reporting on this incident I have been waiting for; the perspective of the staff, Blenheim Palace’s response, and security both before and after the break in. To me that has always been as important and interesting as the theft itself. Sadly, the novelty of the theft and the juvenile jokes that could be made about it have dominated the news coverage. A month before the theft Edward Spencer-Churchill infamously said, “[i]t’s not going to be the easiest thing to nick… 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.” The staff mindset was similar, America’s eccentric nature outweighed the $6 million insurance valuation. Staff were more concerned about the controversial artworks on display than the 18kt gold toilet that visitors would be pooping and peeing in. In retrospect that seems incredibly naive, until you learn what else was on display. The Cattelan exhibit included flags that visitors walked all over but they were not any old flags, they were Union Flags. If you are unfamiliar with that term perhaps you are more familiar with this one, Union Jack. That is right Gentle Reader, one of the artworks was the national flag of the United Kingdom laying on the ground for visitors to walk all over. Correction, several national flags to walk all over. Additionally, there were two statues that staff expected would anger some people: a statue of a Pope being hit by a meteor and a statue of Adolf Hitler praying. Gentle Reader, it is clear that palace staff had good reason to be concerned about vandalism and angry outbursts directed at staff. They were thinking about security, just not the kind that turn poop jokes into international headlines. It should also be noted that at least one staff member lived onsite. Eleanor Paice, the guest services supervisor, lived in an employee apartment above the palace and on September 14, 2019, she woke to the sound of smashed glass. While that is never a good thing, she lived and worked in a place where weird noises were the norm. Paice knew something was seriously wrong when the fire alarm went off and after she evacuated to the Great Courtyard she saw the thieves. “It was just shadows and quick movement. I just saw them move towards the car, get in the car….and then the car just sped straight off.” She assumed they had stolen a lock of Sir Winston Churchill’s hair that had been cut when he was a child. Staff searched the palace after the police arrived and that was when Paice learned that she was wrong about what had been taken. When the palace reopened the next day they did not shy away from the incident, just a few feet away from Churchill’s birthplace was an alteration to the exhibit. The staff had rehung the police tape so visitors could see the toiletless bathroom in all of its ugly glory. By choosing to display the crime scene the palace’s attendance skyrocketed. “People were more interested to see where the golden toilet had been stolen from than to come and see the golden toilet itself.” On that infamous day in 2019 there were many failures that allowed the thieves to get in and out in under five minutes. Some of them include gates that could be breached so easily, the lack of; security patrols, overnight guard for America, and a security camera monitoring the bathroom door. Dominic Hare, the palace’s chief executive, has accepted full responsibility for Blenheim’s security failures. “It’s not a democratic decision that we had a certain level of security, it was really mine. In that sense I made Blenheim vulnerable. And we are not vulnerable anymore.” That is due to Hare’s decision to make upgrading the palace’s security his top priority. Naturally, we do not know what those upgrades entail and obviously we should not ask. Gentle Reader, I am happy that the BBC shed light on these neglected aspects of the great golden toilet heist of 2019. Yes, it is interesting, but more importantly shows that the people at Blenheim Palace were competent professionals who had the misfortune of focusing on the wrong threat. You can learn more about it here.
