Bille Hougart

Bille Hougart was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and grew up in the Washington, DC area. His professional career in national science policy included service in the Legislative and Executive branches, as well as the private sector. His reference books are considered indispensible resources by collectors and fans of silver jewelry and silver objects.

His education and career in science instilled the curiosity and discipline necessary to write hallmark reference books. As one reader noted about the 2006 edition of "The Little Book of Mexican Silver Trade and Hallmarks"....."I can't imagine the time that took to research the material. This book is a MUST!"

His book on Native American hallmarks, "The Little Book of Marks on Southwestern Silver: Silversmiths, Designers, Guilds and Traders" was portable, comprehensive, user friendly, fully cross-referenced and indexed. It included over 3200 entries, plus thousands of photographs, images and symbols dedicated to helping users identify who made their silver treasure from the American Southwest. Published in 2011, after more than six years of research, the book was touted as the "go-to" book in its field.

"Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks" (464 pages) is the expanded update to "The Little Book of Marks on Southwestern Silver." It features 225 new silversmiths entries and 500+ more images of hallmarks. Published in 2014, this new book has been re-configured to a larger size (7" x 10") to accommodate the new information.

Popular demand led to the publishing in 2015 of The Little Book of Mexican Silver Trade and Hallmarks as an ebook in the Kindle store....at last!

The 4rd edition of "Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks" was published in 2019. This huge volume (507 pages) includes over 5,000 images and covers over 4,000 individual entries. It is the most comprehensive and accurate reference of its kind available!