Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Pet Cremer Olympia
Year	1936
Size	2 1/2″ x 3 1/4″
Images	Black and White
Type	Miscellaneous
Number in Set	144

1936 Pet Cremer Olympia Overview

The 1936 Pet Cremer set was one of several German issues that covered the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin. As was the case with others, it was a multi-sport set that covered games from the Olympics. Because the event was held in Germany, the sets have a decided German focus on that country’s teams and athletes.

Numerous sports were profiled in the set, but the major American sports included were baseball, basketball, and hockey. Track and field dominates the set with roughly 1/4 of the set focused on those events.

Hockey, by far, had the most representation of those sports. There were six hockey cards included compared to only one basketball and one baseball. In addition, while the U.S. was a big part of those Olympic games, they are only represented once among those eight cards as the basketball card features a game between the U.S. and Canada. The basketball card features Team USA’s star player, Joe Fortenberry reaching for the ball. Here’s a closer look at the few 1936 Olympic cards featuring basketball. Boxing and wrestling are also covered.

Americans are covered in other sports throughout the set, including track and field star Jesse Owens, who was included on a total of three cards. Owens’ cards, particularly the one showing him as an individual as opposed to a group picture, are often regarded as the most valuable ones. However the baseball and boxing cards have risen in value and can be priced highly by sellers understanding their rarity.

Still, the importance of Owens’ card cannot be understated and today, they are heralded as near rookie cards. Pet Cremer certainly understood their importance with two of the three No. 2 and No. 3 in the set’s checklist.

A final sought after card is that of Olympic champion skater Sonja Henie.

One note is that these cards are commonly referred to as tobacco cards but that is not correct. Pet Cremer actually produced cleaning/soap and laundry products. Thus, these are best fit under the Miscellaneous Card header in the American Card Catalog.

The sports are mostly grouped together by sport. Here is a general breakdown of the set by card number:

• 1-35: Track and Field
• 36-43: Boxing/Wrestling/Weightlifting
• 44-53: Gymnastics
• 54-56: Fencing
• 57-59: Pistol Shooting
• 60-62: Cycling
• 63-71: Polo/Equestrian Sport
• 72-75: Soccer/Rugby
• 76: Basketball
• 77-81: Handball/Field Hockey
• 82-97: Swimming/Diving/Water Polo
• 98-111: Rowing/Boating
• 112: Baseball
• 113-126: Skiing/Miscellaneous
• 127-130: Bobsled
• 131-144: Ice Skating/Hockey/Miscellaneous

Baseball

The baseball card is an interesting one. It features Japanese players who scheduled to play a demonstration game against the United States. The sport was not a fully recognized one at the games but Japan was to play against the Americans in an exhibition. However, they ended up not appearing. Japan did help bring the sport to Germany, however, showing up in the country prior to the Olympics.

The baseball card is a redux of sorts of one found in the 1932 Sanella set. That set was also a German release and included a card featuring an unknown Japanese catcher. As I covered here, the player shown on that card likely features Japanese Hall of Famer Jiro Kuji. This card features two Japanese catchers, both also unknown.

The catcher seen standing is wearing the same type of shin guards as found on the one from the Sanella set. That player could also be Kuji but no definitive link is known. The other catcher waiting for a pitch could be Nobuo Kura, who was a featured Japanese catcher on some of the team’s international efforts. Again, however, nothing is definitive.

1936 Pet Cremer Olympia Checklist

Below is a checklist of the cards.

1. Die Deutschen siehen ins Olympische Dorf ein (German Olympic Team)
2. 100m race with Jesse Owens
3. Jesse Owens in the 200m
4. Williams vs. Brown in the 400m
5. 800m race with John Woodruff
6. Lovelock, Cunningham, and Beccali
7. Lehtinen vs. Murakoso
8. Glen Hardin in 400m race
9. Murakoso vs. Iso-Hollo in 10,000m race
10. Towns in 100m hurdles
11. Tuominen and Iso-Hollo in 3,000 race
12. 4x100m Team USA with Jesse Owens, Metcalfe, Draper, Wykoff
13. 4x100m Team England
14. 4x400m Team Germany
15. Kitei Son in marathon
16. Long
17. Cornelius Johnson
18. Whitlock 50km
19. Tajima
20. Meadows and Nishiba
21. Barlund, Woellke, and Stock
22. Carpenter
23. Jaervinen and Stock
24. Hein
25. Morris
26. Helen Stephens in 100m
27. Women’s 80m hurdles
28. Fleischer, Kruger, and Kwasniewska
29. Albus, Kraus, Dollinger, Dorffeldt
30. Women’s 4×100 race
31. Mauermaner, Weiss, and Mollenhauer
32. Csak, Kaun, and Odam
33. Oberleutnant Handrik
34. Ubba, Handrick, Leonhard
35. Leutnant Lemp
36. German wrestlers
37. Wagner, El Touni, and Ismayr
38. Bsenicka, Manger, and Luhaaar
39. Schafer
40. Wrestling mats/matches
41. Kaiser
42. Runge
43. Virtanen and Tozzi
44. Dietrich, Edart, and Buhne
45. German women’s gymnastics team
46. German men’s gymnastics team
47. Alfred Schwarzmann
48. Eugen Mack
49. Mack, Schwarzmann, and Frey
50. Hudec
51. Belle
52. Volz
53. Erna Burger
54. Gardere, Gaudini, and Bocchino
55. German fencing team
56. Mayer, Preiss, and Schacherer
57. Jamonnieres, Ullman, and Krempel
58. Hax, Van Oyen, and Ullman
59. Van Oyen
60. Merkens, Karsch, Ihbe, and Lorenz
61. Charpentier
62. Merkens
63. Polo – Argentina vs. England
64. German polo players
65. Argentina polo players
66. Bollay, Gerhard, and Oppeln-Bronikowski
67. Oberleutenant Bollay
68. von Mangenheim
69. Hauptmann Stubbendor
70. Rittmeister Lippert
71. Oberleutnant Hasse
72. Men’s Italian soccer team
73. Men’s Austrian soccer team
74. Germany vs. Luxemborg soccer
75. Italy vs. Austria soccer
76. Team USA basketball vs. Canada (Joe Fortenberry)
77. Dyan Chand
78. Germany vs. Austria handball
79. India vs Germany field hockey
80. India field hockey team
81. Germany handball team
82. Csik
83. Terada and Medica
84. Kiefer
85. Sietas and Hamuro
86. Japanese Swimmers – Yusa, Sugiura, Taguchi, and Urai
87. German water polo team
88. Stork, Root, and Wayne
89. Female divers
90. Marshall Wayne
91. Jentsch-Jordan and Gestring
92. Maehata and Genenger
93. Women’s swimming 100m race
94. Holland 4×100 women’s swim team
95. Dina Senff
96. German 4×100 women’s swim team
97. Ria Mastenbroek
98. Gustav Schafer
99. Kaidel and Pirsch
100. Edstein, Rom, Karl, and Menne
101. Eichhorn and Strauss
102. Gustmann, Arend, and Adamski
103. Maier, Bolle, Gaber, Gollner, and Bauer
104. Der Endkampf im Achter (Rowing)
105. Ernst Krebs
106. Horn and Harnisch
107. Wevers and Landen
108. Hradezky, Eberhard, and Hormann
109. Olympic sailing
110. Bischo, Kagchelland, and Weisse
111. Die 6-m klasse auf fahrt (sailing)
112. Japanese baseball players
113. Galutschiessen zur Eroffnungsfeier (Cannons in snow mountains)
114. Christl Cranz
115. Birger Ruud
116. Lantischner and Psnur
117. Larsson
118. Hagen
119. Blid von der fleinen Olympiaschanze (skiing)
120. Gustav Adolf
121. Bergstrom, Wikstrom, Larsson, Biklund, Englund
122. Die Deutsche Patrouille (German patrol / skiers)
123. Italian skiers
124. 4×10 km race (skiing)
125. Jalkanen
126. Willi Bogner
127. Die Eismaurer bei der arbeit (skiing)
128. TBD
129. Hohe Gafte (men in coats)
130. Team USA bobsled
131. Sonja Henie
132. Women’s figure skaters
133. Herber and Baier
134. Cecillia Colledge
135. Schafer and Inada
136. Canadian ice hockey team
137. Canada vs. Hungary (ice hockey)
138. Japanese hockey player in game against England
139. Harter Kampf ums Tor (hockey game)
140. Rudolf Hess
141. England hockey team
142. German hockey team
143. Colonel Udet flying over Rissersee
144. Die träger von fünf olympischen medaillen (Norwegian olympians with five medals)

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