Meet new Antiques Road Trip expert Tahmina Ghaffar including very different job before antiques

Londoner Tahmina specialises in Islamic and Indian art and currently works at Chiswick Auctions, where she’s a head of department. 

In her debut episode of Antiques Road Trip, Tahmina is described as “an authority and enthusiast on Indian and Islamic art”.

After graduating from The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, Tahmina joined prestigious auction house Sotheby’s in the Islamic & Indian and the South Asian departments before going on to run the South Asian auctions at Bonhams.

During her time at Bonhams, Tahmina achieved world record results for Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan artists, according to Chiswick Auctions. 

Before making her name in the antiques industry, Tahmina worked in finance. 

“I used to work in finance and I realised that I loved pictures more than numbers,” she explained during Monday’s episode of Antiques Road Trip.

While Tahmina likes to keep her life off-screen private, we do know that she’s a mum and is based in London. 

Her Instagram bio reads: “Specialist – Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art. Mum. London“. 

In this week’s episodes, Tahmina and David travel from the Lancashire countryside to the Pembrokeshire coast, stopping off in Hexham, Hereford and Cambridgeshire along the way. 

The synopsis for episode one reads: “We hit the highway with a never-before-seen pairing of Tahmina Ghaffar and David Harper. She’s a newbie with plenty of impressive expertise, while he’s a dab hand who’s clocked up many a mile on his ‘road trip-o-meter’. The couple share a classic sporty Datsun 280ZX and start out from rural Lancashire with winning in mind.”

It continues: “David picks up some shot glasses and a huge pot for some sugar and spice, while Tahmina leans into her fighting spirit with some fencing gear and a crocodile nutcracker. 

“The duo stop for a classic local lunch of butter pie, but who will be on a high at the auction?”