Collector & Curator of Edwardian Cool

Konstantin Golovchinsky, the “eye” behind the eclectic and stylish collections of West LA’s Object Quality Antiques, began turning his talent for curation into cash out of necessity. 11 years later, after posting up at flea markets and turning one day’s sales into next week’s purchases, the solo operation has become a staple among the restaurant lined streets of this trendy Los Angeles neighborhood. Styled after the small shops that dot the streets of Paris, the 450 square foot retail front is packed full of useful decorative objects. Golovchinsky has a variety of sources for his unique mix of artifacts: local estate auctions, estate sales, local flea markets, and a lot of walk-in traffic from locals wanting to sell their antiques. The question Golovchinsky asks when out on the road scouring for new inventory, “Would the object be seen in the home of a well travelled Edwardian era family?”, is his litmus test for maintaining control over the store’s interesting vibe. With the onset of the pandemic and the challenging times for all the businesses in his neighborhood, Golovchinsky has decided to sell off most of his collection to prepare for the next phase of Object Quality.

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In his words, here is a breakdown of some stand out pieces from the collection:

The 18th century, 13 star ship’s flag, not only is it historically significant, it’s an election year!

A 16th century black stone Krishna statue, despite missing both of his arms, it’s a stunning decorative piece that’s 500 years old!

Also from the 16th century is the Albrecht Durer woodblock print. The Deposition of Christ from The Large Passion was originally carved in 1497, my print was made between 1511 and 1570 (I took it to LACMA and had their paper conservator bring out their first state version of the same print to compare. While mine does show plate wear that was sustained by 1511, but lacks the damage sustained by the 1570 state). Durer died in 1527, so there’s a chance that this is a lifetime print, rather than an ‘after Durer’.

Nicholas Cage’s Dunhill Wardrobe trunk, I bought the trunk at an auction that was selling off part of Cage’s collection, but didn’t make the connection immediately. I even took the big luggage tag off and was going to throw it out, but decided to Google what Saturn Films was. Only then did the applied gold foil initials NKC make sense; Nicholas Cage’s middle name is Kim.

The Luvena Vysekal painting told it’s own story. Luvena and her more famous artist husband Edouard Vysekal painted Los Angeles glitterati in the 1920’s. This portrait painting in 1924 was likely commissioned by Josephine Dillon. In the early 50s, she donated the painting to the Pasadena Playhouse, where it hung until the mid 1970s when the Playhouse decided to sell off some assets to pay for a tax bill. An auction was held, and the lot number, written by hand, is still visible on the back of the frame. This painting was purchased by a local couple, who owned it until I bought it from their estate.

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