diff --git a/num2words/base.py b/num2words/base.py
index 243045ff..dc385f77 100644
--- a/num2words/base.py
+++ b/num2words/base.py
@@ -39,13 +39,12 @@ def __init__(self):
         self.errmsg_floatord = "Cannot treat float %s as ordinal."
         self.errmsg_negord = "Cannot treat negative num %s as ordinal."
         self.errmsg_toobig = "abs(%s) must be less than %s."
-
+        self.cards = OrderedDict()
         self.setup()
 
         # uses cards
         if any(hasattr(self, field) for field in
                ['high_numwords', 'mid_numwords', 'low_numwords']):
-            self.cards = OrderedDict()
             self.set_numwords()
             self.MAXVAL = 1000 * list(self.cards.keys())[0]
 
@@ -111,7 +110,7 @@ def to_cardinal(self, value):
             value = abs(value)
             out = "%s " % self.negword.strip()
 
-        if value >= self.MAXVAL:
+        if hasattr(self, 'MAXVAL') and value >= self.MAXVAL:
             raise OverflowError(self.errmsg_toobig % (value, self.MAXVAL))
 
         val = self.splitnum(value)
diff --git a/tests/test_base.py b/tests/test_base.py
index efa1bc81..e05bc7df 100644
--- a/tests/test_base.py
+++ b/tests/test_base.py
@@ -62,3 +62,16 @@ def test_is_title(self):
             self.base.title("one"),
             "one"
             )
+
+    def test_set_high_numwords_not_implemented(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(NotImplementedError):
+            self.base.set_high_numwords()
+
+    def test_to_ordinal(self):
+        from num2words.base import Num2Word_Base
+        self.base = Num2Word_Base()
+        self.assertEqual(self.base.to_ordinal(1), "1st")
+        self.assertEqual(self.base.to_ordinal(11), "11th")
+        self.assertEqual(self.base.to_ordinal(21), "21st")
+        self.assertEqual(self.base.to_ordinal(100), "100th")
+        self.assertEqual(self.base.to_ordinal(123), "123rd")