Deutscher Sport Set and Checklist

Posted on December 3, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Deutscher Sport
Year	c1934-36
Size	2″ x 2 1/2″
Images	Color
Type	Tobacco
Number in Set	286

Deutscher Sport Overview

Deutscher Sport Boxing.jpg This issue featured a total of 286 cards. Like a few other German issues, cards were printed for several tobacco products. That theme has been seen with several sets, including the 1931 Film Stars issue that featured a Babe Ruth card. Backs include a space at the bottom where the particular brand was featured.

These cards are often cited as 1936 cards. That is likely because an album for the set includes the print 1936 Deutscher Sport Vorschau Auf. However, in German, that actually means preview of 1936 and these cards are actually believed by some to be printed by in 1934 or 1935.

The release was a multi-sport set with cards featuring all sorts of sports, including hockey, golf, boxing, tennis, and wrestling, among others. Most of the names in the set are not those that will be familiar to collectors. Many subjects were Olympians that are not widely collected. However, the legendary boxing Hall of Famer Max Schmeling is featured on a few cards. Other notables are tennis greats Gottried von Cramm, Cilly Aussem, and Hans Nusslein. Hockey is the only one of the four major sports represented.

Three hockey cards are here, including one featuring German hockey and tennis star Gustav Jaenecke. One of the three hockey cards, No. 210, depicts roller hockey.

There is a decided German spin on the set, which is predictable. Many German subjects were featured with some showing up on multiple cards, including track and field stars Ruth Engelhardt and Hans Sievert.

As is the case with many other German releases, a special album was created for this set. Many collectors glued their cards to the pages that had specially designed places on pages for them and it isn’t uncommon to find partial or complete sets of the cards pasted into the books.

Varying Backs

As mentioned, the Deutscher Sport cards were printed for several different tobacco brands.

Best I can tell, the set was distributed by four different tobacco makers — Bulgaria, Jasmatzi, Josetti, and Salem. Those brands all distributed other tobacco cards as well.

All of the backs are the same across the varying brands. The lone difference is that the brand name for the particular distributor is at the bottom.

Shown here are three of the different back types. The fourth, Salem, appears to be the one that is the rarest, though all of the four are somewhat tough to find here in the U.S. And while the Salem cards are probably the toughest, premiums are not usually paid for them due to few collectors or even sellers being aware of that fact.

Groupings

Like other sets, these cards are largely checklisted by sport/topic. Below are the general groupings by card numbers.

Miscellaneous Subjects (1-9)
Cycling (10-11)
Track and Field (12-50)
Gymnastics (51-60)
Fencing (61-64)
Wrestling and Boxing (65-75)
Weightlifting (76-78)
Soccer/Rugby/Handball (79-94)
Field Hockey (95-99)
Golf (100)
Miscellaneous Sports (101-105)
Tennis (106-112)
Swimming/Diving/Water Polo (113-124)
Rowing/Boating (125-146)
Cycling (147-152)
Motorcycling/Auto Racing (153-172)
Aviation (173-189)
Skiing (190-201)
Winter Sports/Skating (202-207)
Hockey (208-210)
Horse Riding/Horse Racing (211-227)
Children’s/Young Men’s Sports (228-237)
Miscellaneous Sports/Activities (238-286)

Deutscher Sport Checklist

Because the backs are written in Fraktur calligraphic script, discerning some of the letters is difficult. Thus, typographical errors may exist in the checklist below.

Miscellaneous Subjects