An anonymous inquiry came via email: “I came across a cool mid-century coffee table. Glass oval top. Wooden boomerang/antler like legs. Any insight to name/age? Thank you in advance…[It] was found in my fathers attic during a move and posted on Craigslist.” He added that people have offered more than 4x what he listed it at and, “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t selling a Van Gogh.” Here goes…

"Boomerang" table (1)

"Boomerang" table (2)

"Boomerang" table (3)

With a hunch but not 100% sure, Gadora deferred to a dear friend with mad online search skills.

Within a few minutes, she’d offered up some style for thought. “It immediately made me think of Isamu Noguchi, so I first searched “Noguchi-style table.” Originally manufactured by Herman Miller, the simple design consists of three elements: a glass top and two interlocking wood base pieces.

Noguchi Coffee Table

Another search for “Mid-century curved wood table glass top” yielded “Pearsall.” Adrian Pearsall who founded Craft Associates, which he later sold to the Lane Company, is widely known for his floating sofas and wood-accent seating. He also invented the beanbag chair, according to the AFHF. A few examples of his tables can be found online.

Pearsall ~ Craft Associates, 1960's

A search for “Pearsall style table” yielded Vladimir Kagan. Both Pearsall and Kagan, along with Noguchi, made furniture in the biomorphic style ~ an art movement that began in the 20th century, with nature influencing design by abstract shapes. Kagan’s sculptured Coffee Table:

Vladimir Kagan "Sculptured Coffee Table"

Still not quite at the “boomerang” coffee table in question, Gadora’s little birdie also found a reference to Kagan, in a pair of walnut end tables sold, for $795, at Vintage and Modern. If you’ve got any insight, do tell.

Kagan-style Biomorphic tables

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Other great resources for identifying Mid-century Modern furnishings:

Architonic.com ~ Daily Inspiration in Architecture and Design

Design Addict ~ Resource for modern, post-modern and contemporary design of the 20th-21st centuries.

Mid-Century Modernist ~ “If good design is a balance of aesthetics and utility, the craft peaked in the years between 1945–1970,” Stephen Coles.

Spinario ~ Minneapolis, Mid-Century Modern Design