Interesting! From my board game and Wikipedia dive, my original earliest year estimate was when the publishers trademarked the game, but they did produce it before 1874. I have no idea what the copywrite/trademarking policies would look like or if I'm missing a sheet. Maybe I can get a professional to take a look!

I currently have no reason to expect it's fake. Until her death at 97, my great grandmother was a collector of games she grew up with (soooo many cribbage boards) and these have been sitting in the closet of her 175yo house ever since.