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		</div><p>The enigmatic creator of a unique solid gold toilet reportedly worth £4.8m (€5.4m) has denied orchestrating its theft in a Banksy-style prank.</p>
<p>The lustrous 18-carat working loo was ripped from a wood-panelled room at Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, in the early hours of Saturday.</p>
<p>Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, who created the sculpture, named America, and who has a history of mischievous stunts, told the New York Times: <em>“I wish it was a prank.”</em></p>
<p>He said: <em>“Who’s so stupid to steal a toilet?</em></p>
<p><em>“America was the 1% for the 99%, and I hope it still is.</em></p>
<p><em>“I want to be positive and think the robbery is a kind of Robin Hood-inspired action.”</em></p>
<p>Cattelan, 58, is understood to have attended a reception party at the 18th century Oxfordshire estate on Friday, marking his first UK solo exhibition in two decades.</p>
<p>The sculpture was the centrepiece of his new show, which opened on Thursday.</p>
<p>Thames Valley Police believe a gang of thieves using at least two vehicles were responsible for the theft and a 66-year-old man arrested on Saturday remains in police custody.</p>
<p>Detective Inspector Jess Milne said on Sunday: “<em>We are following a number of lines of inquiry and there will continue to be a police presence in and around the area of Blenheim Palace while our investigations continue.</em></p>
<p><em>“We are making every effort to locate the offenders and the toilet that was stolen.”</em></p>
<p>Some sceptics have been slow to accept the theft at face value, with the memory of artist Banksy shredding his famous Girl With a Balloon painting still fresh in the mind of the art world.</p>
<p>Last year, onlookers at a Sotheby’s auction were stunned after the painting started to be cut with a shredder built-in to its frame, just after it had sold for more than £1m (€1.1m). That stunt is said to have made the piece more valuable.</p>
<p>In Amsterdam in 1996, Cattelan previously stole the whole show of another artist at a nearby gallery and tried to pass off the exhibition as his own work.</p>
<p>He said at the time the theft was a “survival tactic” after being given only two weeks to produce work for his exhibit, saying: <em>“I took the path of least resistance. It was the quickest and easiest thing to do”</em>, according to ArtNews.</p>
<p>Despite police being called, Cattelan was allowed to continue his display for several days.</p>
<p>Initial reports had said the golden toilet was worth an estimated £1m (€1.1m), but Blenheim Palace chief executive Dominic Hare said it has been valued at about $6m (£4.8 million).</p>
<p>The sculpture hit the headlines last year after it was offered to US president Donald Trump by the chief curator of the Guggenheim in New York, its former home.</p>
<p>The golden toilet had proved popular at the Fifth Avenue museum and had been described by critics as a pointed satire against the excesses of wealth.</p>
<p>Cattelan has previously said: <em>“Whatever you eat, a two-hundred-dollar lunch or a two-dollar hot dog, the results are the same, toilet-wise”.</em></p>
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