Saarinen tulip table problem  

perhaps
deacon,
I know there are companies that restore marble floors. Perhaps one of these service providers can help you.

I thought it looked like...
I thought it looked like polyurethane or a resin. I googled it and found this.
http://stoneandtilepros.com/kb/article/resin-on-marble-table-top-crackin...

There was a recent thread here
about the same kind of thing, I think. If you search "marble" you can probably find it.

That thread is
here:
http://www.designaddict.com/design_addict/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/th...

Get it off
and keep it off ! Yuck. Like the 'clear' plastic covers on yo grandma's bedroom 'suit' and lampshades . . . ?
Looks like it's ready to come off easily ?

It's hard to tell from the photos
but the coating on that table appears to be much thicker (and much less tightly adhered) than the coating on my Saarinen side table and Florence Knoll dining table.
Deacon, was your table manufactured by Knoll?

it's by knoll
yea it's knoll., i got it back in NYC in jan 2005. then i moved it to hong kong a few months later. maybe it's the humidity here....