Early life and education

He attended Cranmore Preparatory School in West Horsley and the Royal Grammar School in Guildford. He studied the history of art and architecture at the University of Reading.

Career

In 1996, he began working at Bonhams as a porter and later became a Junior Cataloguer in their Collectors Department. He then moved to Sotheby's in London, where he worked as a Specialist in their Collectors Department.

In 2001, he joined the Internet company icollector.com and eventually became Director of Auction House Services.

He has written for the DK Collectables Price Guide (by Judith Miller) and co-authored the annual Miller's Collectables Price Guide from 2009 to 2017. He has also contributed to other publications linked to Miller, including Buy, Keep or Sell? for Reader's Digest, Decorative Arts, and DK Collectors' Guide: 20thC Glass.

In 2006, he started his own publishing company, Mark Hill Publishing Ltd, which focuses on books about new and developing areas in 20th-century design.

He is the antiques columnist for the Daily Mail and has given lectures at places like the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He is also part of review groups for major international fairs, such as the Olympia Fine Art & Antiques Fair and the British Antiques Dealers' Association's annual fair. He is a member of the British Antiques Dealers' Association and an accredited lecturer with The Arts Society. He co-founded Antiques Young Guns, a website and group that supports young people in the antiques trade. In 2010, he led National Antiques Week, organized by Antiques Are Green. In 2014, he found and restored copper etching plates for a series of etchings by Pierre-Georges Jeanniot, inspired by Francisco Goya and Jacques Callot, which depicted The Rape of Belgium. These etchings had been banned in 1915 and later lost.

In December 2022, he opened a shop at The Pantiles Arcade in Royal Tunbridge Wells and also joined online antiques retailers at scottishantiques.com. He mainly sells Czech and other European art glass from the mid-20th century. In 2024, he launched Mark Hill Auctions, a small auction house, at The Pantiles Arcade in Royal Tunbridge Wells.

Television

He has been an expert on the various items and collectibles teams for the BBC Antiques Roadshow since 2007 and often appears on the show. In 2022, he became an expert on the BBC Antiques Road Trip. He also helped present four popular television series on BBC2: Cracking Antiques with Kathryn Rayward in 2010, and Antiques Uncovered with Lucy Worsley in 2012. In 2014, he co-presented Collectaholics, a new BBC2 series, with Mel Giedroyc. He co-presented a second season of Collectaholics with Jasmine Harman on BBC2 in 2015.

Other information

Hill currently lives in London with his partner. He previously served as a Patron of the King's Lynn Arts Centre. He is now a Freeman of the City of London and also a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars. He is a member of the Groucho Club. He is the son of Roger Hill, who worked as the Chief Mechanic for the Tyrrell F1 Team.

Publications

• Fat Lava: West German Ceramics of the 1960s and 70s (2006, second edition 2010, third revised and expanded edition 2012, fourth revised and expanded edition 2016, fifth revised edition 2018) ISBN 978-0-9929689-1-5
• Michael Harris: Mdina Glass & Isle of Wight Studio Glass (2006) ISBN 978-09552865-1-3
• Frank Thrower & Dartington Glass (2007) ISBN 978-0-9552865-2-0
• Hi Sklo Lo Sklo: Post War Czech Glass Design (2008) ISBN 978-0-9552865-3-7
• The Journal of the Glass Association (2008)
• Caithness Glass: Loch, Heather & Peat (2011) ISBN 978-0-9552865-5-1
• Alla Moda: Italian Ceramics of the 1950s–70s (2012) ISBN 978-0-9552865-7-5
• The Canny Collector (2013) ISBN 978-0-9552865-8-2
• Berànek & Skrdlovice: Legends of Czech Glass by Robert Bevan Jones & Jindrich Parik (General Editor & Publisher) ISBN 978-0-9552865-9-9
• The Horrors of War by Pierre-Georges Jeanniot (2014) ISBN 978-0-9929689-0-8
• Sklo: Czech Glass Design from the 1950s–70s (2017) ISBN 978-0-9929689-2-2

Published by Miller's, an imprint of Octopus Books (a division of Hachette Livre):
• Miller's Collectables Handbook & Price Guide 2014–2015 ISBN 9781845337308
• Miller's Collectables Handbook 2012–13 ISBN 9781845336356
• Miller's Collectables Handbook 2010–11 ISBN 9781845335144
• Miller's Collectables Price Guide 2009 ISBN 9781845334420

Published by Mitchell Beazley, an imprint of Octopus Books (a division of Hachette Livre):
• Cracking Antiques (2010) ISBN 978-1-8453355-6-4

Published by Dorling Kindersley:
• DK Collectables Price Guide 2008 ISBN 9781405322171

Published by Lund Humphries:
• Sam Herman (Contributing Author) (2019) ISBN 9781848223257