White elephant

[2] To possess a white elephant was regarded—and is still regarded in Thailand and Burma—as a sign that the monarch reigned with justice and power, and that the kingdom was blessed with peace and prosperity.

[3] Because the animals were considered sacred and laws protected them from labor, receiving a gift of a white elephant from a monarch was simultaneously a blessing and a curse.

After much effort and great expense, Barnum finally acquired the animal from the King of Siam only to discover that his "white elephant" was actually dirty grey in color with a few pink spots.

[19] In Singapore, paper cutouts of white elephants were placed next to the completed but unopened Buangkok MRT station on the North East Line in 2005 to protest its non-opening.

[26][circular reference] A former Polish astronomical observatory built in the Carpathian Mountains (now part of Ukraine) in 1938 is nicknamed White Elephant due to its appearance.

A white elephant at the Amarapura Palace in 1855
The British East Africa Company came to regard Uganda as a white elephant when internal conflict made administration of the territory impossible.
Boothtown Aqueduct , Western Sydney , New South Wales, Australia