Marc Newson’s Lockheed Lounge is a bit of design market bellwether. Think of Newson as the Picasso of the design art category. His works set the top of the range, the peak of what’s possible to sell. Halsey Minor paid dearly for his Lockheed Lounge but it turned out to be a good investment–for his creditors, at least. Here’s Judd Tully on what happened at the Phillips de Pury sale last night:

Another high-profile item was Marc Newson’s emblematic 1988 Lockheed Lounge, the white-footed prototype of his most famous design, which sold to the telephone for a record $2,098,500, far higher than its $1–1.5 million estimate. Phillips’ design head Alexander Payne described the winning bidder as “a top buyer of contemporary culture.” The previous record for a version of the aluminum, fiberglass-reinforced polyester resin and pop-riveted chaise stood at £1,105,250 ($1,613,951), the price it earned at Phillips de Pury in London in April 2009.

It was not a perfect night for Newson sellers, though. Another objet by the designer, a 1987 prototype version of his Pod of Drawers that had been estimated to earn $500-700,000 failed to sell, and a third Newson, a 1992 Event Horizon Table finished below its $250–350,000 estimate, selling to Newson’s dealer, Larry Gagosian for $242,500.

Richard Prince’s “Nurse” Sells for $6.5 Million at Phillips, Confirming Market’s Health (ArtInfo.com)