He started collecting when he was a boy and his aunts gave him some Whitman coin boards.

[6] Krause's goal was to bring the coin collecting hobby to people in areas generally ignored by other publications and news outlets at the time, which were mainly focused in larger cities.

Krause, who was a construction worker by trade, built the publications' offices, which were completed in 1957 and remained the business's home for decades.

In 1971, he began publishing a line of publications for car and auto enthusiasts in an effort to diversify and expand his business.

[10] Krause was active in many charities and organizations including Rawhide Boy's Ranch, a residential facility for at-risk youth founded by Bart Starr and his wife Cherry, the Badger State Winter Games, the Melvin Laird Center medical research facility at the Marshfield Clinic and the Max McGee National Research Center for Juvenile Diabetes at the Children's Hospital of Milwaukee.