Of all the incredible decks produced during the 19th Century, none glimmer quite as bright as EL Dorado Playing Cards made by The National Card Company in Indianapolis, Indiana. Named after the elusive Lost City of Gold, owning one of these decks in 1893 might have tricked you into thinking you had found a small part of it. With Gold Edges and heavy use of gold fleck on the back design, there was no other deck that boasted more gilded accents. Even with the theme of El Dorado, card players didn’t need to fear the Spanish Conquistadors because this deck was, in fact, as American as you could get.

El Dorado No. ‘49 was first manufactured in the early 1890s and was received as one of Nationals most popular initial brands. This attractive deck was chock-full of mystery and intrigue and evoked the passions of some of the most incredible treasure hunts of all time. Considered an early “mash-up” deck, it contained both the exotic ideas of El Dorado and the imagery of America’s “not so distant” California gold rush in 1849.