When Lam Sai-Wing’s Hong Kong-based jewelry business, 3D Gold, took off more than a decade ago, he made a rather unusual investment. He built the “Hall of Gold” in one of his showrooms. This unusual and extremely expensive structure was made of six tons of gold. The furnishings included a fully working solid gold toilet.
As gold prices rose, Lam began dismantling the hall, melting down the gold and selling it to finance his company’s expansion into mainland China. He never parted with the toilet, which is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s most expensive toilet. Here’s what it looked like:
But, visitors to Hong Kong won’t be seeing it any time soon. Lam died unexpected earlier this year and his company has become engulfed in scandal after five executives, including his own widow, were accused of stealing nearly $23 million worth of gold bars from the company vault. Public trading of the company has stopped and what remains of the Hall of Gold has been closed to the public indefinitely.
[Via Time’s China Blog]