A Rare Pair Plucked From the Bargain Pile

Tales of finding flea market treasures are a staple of urban legend, and here's a good one, times two.

Something about the angular shape of two small, anodized aluminum tables caught the eye of mid-century modern furniture dealer Bruce Nichols at an Arlington flea market last fall. He bought the pair for $65.

Nichols had a hunch they were designed by Isamu Noguchi and immediately e-mailed photos to the Wright auction house in Chicago. By that evening he had confirmation of his good eye: The tables turned out to be rare 1957 prototype Prismatic tables by the highly collected Japanese American sculptor and designer who died in 1988. One of the tables was sold at Wright for $132,000 a couple of months later. Nichols kept the other one and loaned it to the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, N.Y., where it is on display. The Prismatic table was not actually produced until 2001, when Vitra manufactured it. It is available at the Noguchi Museum Shop in white or black aluminum for $445 ( http://www.noguchi.org). Nichols, who owns the Georgetown shop Metro Interiors, regularly trolls the vendors at the relocated Georgetown Flea Market at Court House looking for vintage 20th-century pieces. "I got a good vibe from the angular form of the tables," he said. "It was luck. I was shocked by the price, to put it mildly."

What did he and his wife do with the windfall? "I put some away, and I paid off some debt. But I didn't buy a new car," Nichols said. "We may have gone out for sushi a few more times than usual."

Jura Koncius