It is probably a fabricated picture as you say. I am always on the lookout for anything National. Have you visited my site at
https://thenationalcardco.weebly.com/ ? Always looking for comments and suggestions.
The National Card date is off by 2 years on the list. My research shows the company registered the name on October 9, 1888 and incorporated the next day in New Jersey. No cards were put on the market until February 1890. (Newspaper article at that time in the Indianapolis News) USPC did buy them in 1893 (It became USPC's Factory #5 then). In February 1904 USPC registered the National Card Company name under their copyright.
American Card started in Kalamazoo in 1890 according to their company history and Ira Ransom's obituary (Company Manager). Also these 2 articles have evidence of their beginning.......
The American stationer., v. 29 (1891) January 1st
Wm. H. and S. H. Longley, of this city, have organized a stock company to be called the "American Playing Card Company," having a factory at Kalamazoo, Mich. The building is 57x120 and four stories, all of which will be used in the various processes of turning out the "squeezers." January 15th
The American Playing Card Company, Kalamazoo, Mich., is now manufacturing its new lines of playing cards and invites the favors of the trade.A 1892 photo of their factory, in the museum in Kalamazoo, states the company was incorporated October 10, 1890. Still looking for this incorporation proof.
I am presently working on a story about an unknown American Playing Card factory that was in Indianapolis just 1 block from the National Card factory. This was in 1889. It disappears by 1892 which is the same time the factory expands in Kalamazoo.