[2][3] His father came to the United States from Odessa in the Russian Empire (today Ukraine) in 1875, and settled in The Bronx, where he ran a general medical practice and five drugstores.
Victor Hammer attended Princeton University, where he graduated in 1921 with a degree in art history.
[8] Victor was responsible for acquisitions for Hammer Galleries, including the so-called Romanov Treasures and Fabergé eggs.
Victor stated a 1938 New York sale he ran with Armand, which grossed several million dollars, consisted of both genuine and faked items (called Fauxbergé by Habsburg), with commissions going back to Mikoyan.
Alongside his brothers Harry and Armand, he purchased the Roosevelt estate on Campobello Island in New Brunswick and donated it to the United States and Canada as the countries' first joint park, known as Roosevelt Campobello International Park.