WWII veteran donates coin collection

By J.D. Long-García
The Catholic Sun

After more than 50 years of collecting, Victor W. Kramer donated his coin assortment to the Diocese of Phoenix.

Kramer wants the proceeds from the collection, which will be auctioned off in Los Angeles May 28-31, to help build a library when a Catholic institution of higher education is constructed in the diocese.

“I came to appreciate the advantages of higher education through a Catholic organization,” said Kramer, a graduate of Santa Clara University in California.

Ira Goldberg, whose firm is auctioning the coins, expects the Kramer collection to garner $400,000 for the diocese.

The diocese will place that money in a special fund that Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted will use to support the development of higher education in the Phoenix area.

“It’s a painless way for a collector who loves coins to pass them along to others who love coins,” Goldberg said. He said Kramer’s complete typeset from 1793 is particularly impressive.

A complete typeset includes every coin made from a particular year. Goldberg also noted Kramer’s 1796 half dollar and quarter, the most exceptional coins in the collection valued at nearly $30,000 combined.

“Victor Kramer had a passion for coins,” Goldberg said. “He put together various collections, completed them.”

Generations of Arizonans

Kramer’s grandfather homesteaded in Phoenix in 1870 before the city was surveyed and his parents met while singing in the St. Mary’s Basilica choir.

The 84-year-old Kramer was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital and attended St. Mary’s Elementary School.

After serving in World War II, he went into the real estate business in downtown Phoenix.

In 1953, he rented a space to Lawson and Ralph Nagel, two brothers opening a stamp and coin shop who also served in the war. Soon after, Kramer started asking questions about coins and the three have been friends ever since.

“I got myself one of those boards with the holes punched in it and decided to try and fill it up. And that’s the way I got into it,” Kramer said.

He said the Nagel brothers began to show him how to detect counterfeits, explaining to him how coins are made and which ones are scarce.

“I collected mostly United States coins. When you get away from that, well, there’s just too many,” Kramer said. He explained that in collecting he looked for silver dollars down to half-cent coins.

“They’ve been making coins since before the time of Christ. There’s so many ways you can do it,” he added.

Kramer acquired his collection through stores, by trading coins and at coin club meetings. When he’d travel for business, he’d stop at the local coins store to have a look.

The Nagel brothers would call him when they found a coin that fit in his collection or would help make his collection more valuable.

“Victor Kramer is a very shrewd guy. And he’s a smart guy, like his father was,” Lawson Nagel said. He explained that Kramer would often upgrade coins by trading them in for coins in better condition.

“Coins are historical and they’re sure to turn out to be a good investment,” Lawson added.

His brother Ralph said coins aren’t made like they used to be.

“Coins have been debased. They’re no longer silver,” he said. “The older coins are 90 percent silver, so they have silver value, which is four or five times the face value of the same coins.”

Ralph also noted the increasing value of gold and silver.

“Silver and gold are hot. Gold is over $600 an ounce and silver is over $12 an ounce,” he said. “So the prices have risen like gasoline.”

With such a valuable collection, what led Kramer to give it to the Church?

He said he read something from Cardinal John Henry Newman that said the library is the center of a university. Kramer agrees with that and wants his collection to help build a library when the diocese hosts an institution of higher learning.

“Victor Kramer is indeed a good example of Christian stewardship,” Bishop Olmsted said. “He has given prayerful consideration to the needs of the Church and how best he can use his own gifts from God to make a difference.”

He said that Kramer made his contribution after discerning the importance of Catholic education and “his personal call from God to contribute to that mission.”

The bishop said that while there are discussions about a Catholic college or university, nothing is concrete.

“However, given the size of Phoenix and the great need for a university that is genuinely Catholic in identity and mission, I am confident that the Holy Spirit will soon inspire people with the gifts and talents needed to bring this about,” he said.

“We need to be in conversation with the thinkers and doers of our time about the vital issues that impact on the common good and on the dignity of persons,” the bishop said.

“We are called to engage our culture, not just fight against negative forces within it,” he added. “Catholic universities engage the culture through the community of scholars who make up the faculty, and also through the contributions of the students.”

The auction will be both online and in-person May 28-31. For more information or to view the collection, visit Ira and Larry Goldberg’s Web site at www.goldbergcoins.com.