NEW YORK.- An icon of Modernist design, a rare and important 1948 "cloud-form" sofa by Isamu Noguchi soared to twice its pre-sale estimate selling for $250,000 at Phillips, de Pury &Luxembourg’s auction of 20th and 21st Century Design in New York. The piece of "organic" furniture was just one of many highlights of the $2,608,880 auction in which another piece by Noguchi, a classic "rudder" coffee table from 1949, was knocked down after an intense bidding war for $64,100. It was only expected to bring $12,000 and $16,000.



A white 1960 “marshmallow” sofa by George Nelson Associates, which once furnished a Florida dental office, smashed the previous record price of $60,000, selling for $129,000 against an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000,and a monumental coffee table by George Nakashima defied expectations eliciting a bid of $57,500 against an estimate of $22,000 to $28,000.



“What this is telling us”, said James Zemaitis, Director of the 20th and 21st Century Design department, “is that a passion for mid-century American “organic” modernism is alive and well despite what some decorators and shelter magazines are telling us”.



Several unusual pieces also garnered fierce competition. A sexy 1956 “Starlet” bed with an oversize canopy by Jean Royère fetched $68,500; two elevator grilles designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan from the Chicago Stock Exchange building sold for $34,500 and $27,600 respectively and a “Streamliner” Meat Slicer designed by Egmont Arens and Theodore Brookhart pitched three museums into competition with the victor, an unnamed institution, paying $8,625 against an estimate of $2,500 to $3,500.



And finally, a rare 1929 “Sitzmachine” chair by Marcel Breuer, whose 100th birthday coincidentally fell on the same day of the sale, brought $46,000 over a pre-sale estimate of $25,000 to $30,000.