Caroline Wheaterpeeks into the life and career of Hamish Trower, valuer and auctioneer at Mallams in Abingdon
AUCTION INSIDER
My mum and dad were good at making sure we went to galleries and museums in the holidays – it’s cheap entertainment, as so many of them are free. We used to go to the V&A a fair bit, and The Usher Gallery in Lincoln. I studied Art History at A level and went on to do it at university, so afterwards I was keen to work in the art world. I had done some work experience at Batemans auction house in Stamford and what really appealed to me was the variety of stuff you come across, and slowly gaining the tools to unlock the stories these objects had to tell.
After university I got a job at Cheffins and spent a year and a half there before joining Mallams in July 2023 as an auctioneer, general valuer and cataloguer. I consign things for sale across Mallams’ three salerooms in Abingdon, Oxford and Cheltenham, but my main purview is the House & Garden sale at Abingdon, in collaboration with Mallams’ director Henry Cooke. We hold four two-day auctions a year, selling everything from antique furniture and Persian carpets to paintings, prints, porcelain and garden statuary.
Being an auctioneer was always my dream and I took my first sale at Mallams in September 2023; an Interiors auction. Henry taught me the basics and I wrote down all the increments and stuck them to my steering wheel, so I would see them over and over again as I drove around for work. The process becomes rhythmic after a while; you’re always talking, but you’ve got to remain sharp in front of a global online audience. It was brilliant and a real adrenalin rush coming off the rostrum; everyone at Mallams was so supportive. One of the nicest things I sol
