If you watched Tahmina Ghaffar make her debut on BBC’s Antiques Road Trip and then searched for her age, you probably found several sites giving a confident number. We could not trace any of those numbers back to a reliable source. This guide sets out what has been publicly confirmed about her, what has not, and where each fact comes from.
Tahmina Ghaffar’s age and date of birth
Tahmina Ghaffar’s age and date of birth have not been publicly confirmed. The BBC, her employer Chiswick Auctions and her university (SOAS, University of London) have not published a birthday or birth year. She has not given one in any interview we could find.
The only date-related fact on record is that she graduated from SOAS in 2012 with a BA in History of Art. It is tempting to work an age out from that, but a graduation year does not tell you when someone was born. People start degrees at 18, at 25 or at 40, and some take gap years or study part-time. For that reason we are not publishing an estimate.
She is best known as one of the antiques experts on BBC One’s Antiques Road Trip, where she specialises in Islamic and Indian art. If she or the BBC confirms her birthday, we will update this page.
What we know at a glance
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Age / date of birth | Not publicly confirmed | None found |
| Birthplace | Not publicly confirmed | None found |
| Education | BA History of Art, SOAS, University of London (2012), with a focus on Islamic art and architecture | SOAS news |
| Earlier career | Worked in finance before moving into antiques | Hello Magazine |
| Auction role | Head of Department at Chiswick Auctions (Islamic and Indian art) | SOAS news |
| TV debut | Antiques Road Trip, March 2025, paired with David Harper | Hello Magazine |
| Partner / family | Not publicly shared | None found |
| Wikipedia page | None found at the time of writing | Our own search |
Why do other sites give her age?
When a new face appears on a popular programme, search interest jumps overnight. Low-quality ‘age, height, net worth’ sites respond by publishing pages fast, and they often fill gaps with guesses that get copied from site to site until they look like established fact. We have seen the same pattern with other Antiques Road Trip and Bargain Hunt experts. A simple test: if a page gives an exact birthday but does not say where it came from, treat it as unverified.
Early life and education
Tahmina Ghaffar has not publicly discussed her birthplace, childhood or family background, so we are not going to guess at them.
Her education is well documented. According to SOAS, University of London, she completed a BA in History of Art in 2012, concentrating on Islamic art and architecture. SOAS (the School of Oriental and African Studies) is one of the few UK universities where you can study the art of Asia, Africa and the Middle East in real depth. Its graduates are well represented in the specialist departments of London’s auction houses and museums.
How her degree shaped her specialism
Islamic and Indian art is a demanding field. A specialist may handle Mughal and Persian miniature paintings, Qur’an manuscripts and calligraphy, Iznik and other Ottoman ceramics, inlaid metalwork, carpets and textiles, arms and armour, and Indian jewellery, all in the same week. Attributing and dating those pieces depends on recognising script styles, regional decoration and materials, which is exactly what an academic grounding like SOAS’s teaches. It also explains why her specialism stands out among Road Trip experts, many of whom are generalists with broad English antiques knowledge.
Tahmina Ghaffar’s career milestones
A first career in finance
Hello Magazine reported that Tahmina worked in finance before she moved into antiques. She has not published the details of that role, such as the firm, her title or how long she stayed. That is not unusual. Plenty of people in the auction trade came to it after another career, and some skills carry straight over: valuation discipline, comfort with numbers and the nerve to tell a client what something is really worth.
Moving into the auction world: Chiswick Auctions
SOAS describes her as Head of Department at Chiswick Auctions, where she leads the Islamic and Indian art sales. Chiswick Auctions is an independent auction house in west London that holds regular specialist sales.
If you have never dealt with an auction house, you may not know what a head of department actually does. In practice the job involves:
- Sourcing consignments: winning objects from private sellers, estates and collectors, often against larger rival houses.
- Valuing and attributing: identifying what a piece is, where and when it was made, and setting an estimate that brings in bidders without putting off the seller.
- Cataloguing: writing the descriptions, condition notes and provenance that international buyers depend on, sometimes without ever seeing the object in person.
- Due diligence: checking provenance and export rules. This matters especially in a field where cultural property law is tightening.
- Running the sale: building the catalogue, marketing to collectors worldwide and handling the post-sale work.
That background is the reason she suits the Road Trip format. The show rewards experts who can quickly spot an underpriced object in a shop full of stock and judge what it will make at auction a week later.
Joining Antiques Road Trip
Tahmina made her Antiques Road Trip debut in March 2025, during the show’s thirtieth series, paired with long-serving expert David Harper. The format is the familiar one: two experts each start with a budget, drive between antiques shops and dealers, buy items, and send them to auction to see whose choices make the most profit.
She joined a cast that includes auctioneers you may know from other BBC daytime shows. If you follow the genre, see our profiles of Bargain Hunt’s Charles Hanson and Natasha Raskin Sharp’s family life.
Personal life
Tahmina Ghaffar has not publicly shared details of a partner, husband, children or wider family. She keeps her TV profile focused on her expertise rather than her private life, which is common among auction professionals whose day jobs depend on discretion with clients.
We have deliberately left out unsourced claims about her relationship status or background. If she discusses her personal life in a verified interview or on an official account, we will add it with a link to the source. For comparison, some of her fellow antiques presenters have chosen to talk openly about their families, as covered in our piece on Irita Marriott’s husband and family life, while others have said very little.
Recent work
On Antiques Road Trip
Viewers reacted quickly to her debut. Hello Magazine ran a follow-up on audience responses to the new expert, and much of the reaction centred on how naturally she fitted into the show and on her unusual specialism. A later on-screen moment, in which she apologised to a co-star after a comment that came across as awkward, also made the news. Exchanges like that are part of the show’s appeal, because the friendly rivalry between experts is half the entertainment.
At Chiswick Auctions
Most Road Trip experts keep their auction or dealing jobs while they film, and nothing we found suggests she has left her role at Chiswick Auctions. Her sales there are the best public record of her professional work, because the house’s online catalogues show the kinds of objects she handles and how they are described.
Where to find reliable information about her
Because she has no Wikipedia page at the time of writing, these are the best primary sources:
- SOAS news: the ‘SOAS alum joins the BBC’s Antiques Road Trip’ announcement, for her education and auction role.
- BBC programme pages and iPlayer: for episode listings and airdates.
- Chiswick Auctions: for her department and current sales.
- Hello Magazine: for interview-based coverage of her career change and debut.
Credit listings such as TVMaze confirm her appearances but carry no biographical detail.
For more profiles from the world of TV presenters, see our guide to John Craven’s age, birthday and career, which follows the same sourced approach.
Key facts about Tahmina Ghaffar
- Known for: Antiques expert on BBC One’s Antiques Road Trip (from March 2025).
- Specialism: Islamic and Indian art.
- Education: BA History of Art, SOAS, University of London, 2012.
- Job: Head of Department, Chiswick Auctions.
- Previous career: Finance.
- Age, birthday, birthplace, family: Not publicly confirmed.
Sources
- SOAS University of London: ‘SOAS alum joins the BBC’s Antiques Road Trip’.
- Hello Magazine: ‘Meet new Antiques Road Trip expert Tahmina Ghaffar’.
- Hello Magazine: viewer reaction and on-air apology coverage.
- TVMaze: Tahmina Ghaffar credits listing.
Last updated: 6 November 2026. We review this page when new verified information is published.
FAQs
How old is Tahmina Ghaffar?
Tahmina Ghaffar’s age has not been publicly confirmed. Neither she, the BBC nor Chiswick Auctions has published her birth year. We know she graduated from SOAS in 2012, but that does not reliably establish her age, so treat any exact figure you see elsewhere as unverified.
When is Tahmina Ghaffar’s birthday?
Her birthday has not been made public. We could not find a date of birth in any official source or verified interview. We will update this page if she confirms it.
Where is Tahmina Ghaffar from?
Her birthplace and family background have not been publicly confirmed. What is on record is that she studied History of Art at SOAS, University of London, and works at Chiswick Auctions in west London.
What is Tahmina Ghaffar best known for?
She is best known as an expert on BBC One’s Antiques Road Trip, where she debuted in March 2025 alongside David Harper. She specialises in Islamic and Indian art and is Head of Department at Chiswick Auctions.
What did Tahmina Ghaffar do before Antiques Road Trip?
She worked in finance before moving into the antiques trade. She then built a career at Chiswick Auctions, where she leads the Islamic and Indian art department.
Does Tahmina Ghaffar have a Wikipedia page?
No Wikipedia page for Tahmina Ghaffar existed when we researched this article. The most reliable sources are the SOAS alumni announcement, BBC programme pages, Chiswick Auctions and interview coverage in Hello Magazine.
