Card deck

The Ford (formerly Foord) family was among the first manufacturers of playing cards in the United States. Before the American Revolution, playing cards came from Europe. Afterwards, Americans hurried to produce card decks without the hated British tax stamp on the ace of spades. Most early deck aces bore the phrase "American Manufacture," to assure citizens of the cards' origin. Nathaniel Ford manufactured cards from 1839 to 1847, utilizing designs previously established by his uncles, in Milton Massachusetts. While earlier card makers operated in Philadelphia, the Ford family cards represent designs typical of the earliest American manufactured cards.