From its commanding public spaces to the intimate seating areas of its guest rooms, the new Cloister hotel had to meet a set of high standards established by history itself. Those standards called for the finest quality antique furniture and lighting, in multiples and on a grand scale. For so ambitious an assignment, The Cloister’s interior designer, Pamela Hughes, turned to antiques dealer Tom Raynor. Over the course of a year, Hughes purchased not 10, 20 or 50 important pieces, but more than 3,000 items — urns, tables, cupboards, planters, lanterns and chandeliers — from Raynor, owner of Paul Ferrante, an antiques shop that has been a fixture on Los Angeles’s posh Melrose Place since 1960. Paul Ferrante is a destination for designers across the U.S., and pieces there have found their way into the homes of everyone from music star Sheryl Crow to philanthropist Wallis Annenberg.

Within the design world, Raynor is considered to have a set of eyes that are the envy of collectors everywhere. He’s been called a connoisseur’s connoisseur. As Hughes puts it simply, “Tommy’s amazing.”

Though Raynor never takes along a shopping list, he always sets aside blocks of time for London and Paris: “The best merchandise filters to these cities.”

Raynor often plans his trips to coincide with antique fairs, including the Biennale des Antiquaires and the Salon des Tuileries in Paris. After shopping in the City of Light, he spends two days in Avignon and a day each in Lyon and Rouen. Now and again, a scouting trip to Florence requires a slight adjustment to Raynor’s routine. Amazing finds are found in all his travels.