Presented here from the Luz Long Collection is this rare "Die XI. Olympiade Berlin 1936" abum with reports, pictures, event highlights and hundreds of Olympic athlete trading cards from the 1936 Winter and Summer Olympics, both of which were held in Germany. Published by Heinrich Franck Söhne, a German multinational company that produced coffee substitutes prior to World War II, the spiral-bound book contains approximately 40 pages of text (all in German) and photos from both Games. The 1936 Winter Games were held in the Bavarian ski community of Garmisch-Partenkirchen from February 6-16 followed six months later by the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin from August 1-16.

The scarcely seen card set is identified in the PSA Registry as "1936 Muhlen Franck Olympia" with a total of 390 slabbed cards in the entire population report. It is beleived that a complete set from the estimated 30 different series (averaging six cards per series) contains close to 200 cards, but the exact number cannot be confirned. In this album, there are 162 colorful cards from Serie 6 through Serie 30. The highlights are the four Jesse Owens cards (bild means card in German) picturing the USAT&F star in each of his gold-medal winning events: Serie 11 Bild 1 (100m); Serie 11 Bild 2 (200m); Serie 14 Bild 3 (4x100m); and Serie 15 Bild 2 (Long Jump). Luz Long ("Lutz" sic) is pictured in Serie 15 Bild 4. It is interesting to note that there is only one graded Luz Long card in the PSA pop report compared to 203 graded Jesse Owens cards cumulatively among his four versions. (Click here for details: https://www.psacard.com/pop/multi-sport-cards/1936/muhlen-franck-olympia-1936/42028).

There are dozens of other notable cards in the set worthy of grading as well. Babe Didrikson (Serie 6 Bild 5 -- only four graded by PSA) is widely regarded as the greatest female athlete of all time. The American Olympian won two gold medals (80m Hurdles & Javelin) and one silver (High Jump) at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Games, becoming the first--and still the only--track and field athlete, male or female, to medal individually at separate running, throwing and jumping events. Of course, she would later go on to have a dominant golf career on the LPGA Tour under her more recognized married name of Babe Zaharias. Norwegian Sonja Henie (Serie 8a Bild 3 -- only seven graded by PSA) is easily the most decorated female figure skater ever, having won gold medals at three straight Winter Olympics (1928, '32 and '36). She was a ten-time World Champion and six-time European Champion before becoming a famous actress in Hollywood.

Other Olympic stars include American gold medalists Archie Williams (400m), John Woodruff (800m), Forrest Towns (110m Hurdles), Glenn Hardin (400m Hurdles), Earle Meadows (Pole Vault), Cornelius Johnson (High Jump), Helen Stephens (Women's 100m & 4x100m), Marjorie Gestring (Women's 3m Springboard), Dorothy Poynton-Hill (Women's 10m Platform), and Jack Medica (Men's 400m Freestyle); Men's Marathon winner Sohn Kee-chung (then known as Kitei Son of Japan-occupied Korea); 5000m champion Gunnar Höckert of Finland; 1500m champion Jack Lovelock of New Zealand; Japan's Naoto Tajima who won gold in Triple Jump and bronze in Long Jump (behind Owens & Long); German champions Hans Woellke (Shot Put), Karl Hein (Hammer Throw), Gerhard Stöck (Javelin), Men's Gymnastics gold medalists Alfred Schwarzmann & Konrad Frey; Estonia's Kristjan Palusalu who won both Heavyweight Wrestling gold medals; Holland's Rie Mastenbroek who won three golds and a silver in Women's Swimming; and many individuals plus several team cards like USA's gold medal basketball quad. For more details on this set, visit https://prewarcards.com/2016/12/01/1936-muhlen-franck-olympia-set-and-checklist.

The cards each measure 2-3/4" by 4-1/8" with vibrant colors and come hinge-mounted above captioned leaves on each page by Serie [Series] and number order. Overall, the cards appear mostly in EX to NM condition, with some faring a little better or worse. We have left them in original, raw form (ungraded) so that they can be kept in their respective captioned slots for ideal display. The burgandy colored cover (13" x 11.25") with silver raised lettering on the front remains intact, but it has worn heavily from age and handling. The interior pages are all intact with moderate toming and corner/edge wear.

According to an Olympic connoisseur who we consulted, this album and card set was only available as a souvenir in Germany within a couple years of the 1936 Olympics. It was not reproduced decades later for resale and distribution. The few that have survived rarely come up for auction. Includes a letter of provenance from the Long family.