Want to Hear Something Kind of Cool?

I see credit cards all day long. All the time. And the other night was the first time one ever really stood out to me. One of my guests–a woman who drank cheap chardonnay spritzers made with Perrier and lime–paid for she and her friend’s dinner with a black American Express card.

I noticed it was all black with very little ink. I showed it to another one of the waitresses. I asked if she’d ever seen one like it. “It’s Mrs. Smith’s. She is the wife of this hot shot defense attorney, she eats here all the time,” she quickly informed me. I ran the pretty black card for the $60 amount and slid it into the pouch of the black check book. Later I started to wonder about the black card. My Dad once worked part-time for American Express and I never heard anything about those.

Thanks to the lovely interweb, I now know that the black card is known as the Centurion card, a card with no limit. Also, I learned how very incredibly rich that lady I waited on is. Here are the perks associated with having the invite-only card from American Express’ own site. Seems there is a bit of urban legend associated with the black card, which is covered thoroughly over at Snopes. You should totally read it all, but for those of your who don’t so much follow directions, here is a pretty good summary of what Snopes says:

Yet for all of its snob appeal, the Centurion is still a thing of mystery. Though we located numerous references to it on the American Express web site, nothing we came across explicitly outlined its eligibility requirements or benefits. The card cannot be applied for; it is either proffered by AmEx or it is not. As to how the company decides whom it should offer the preferred plastic to, according to American Express their applications for Centurion cards are generally provided to customers who annually charge $150,000 or more to other AmEx cards. Centurion cards are not offered to anyone who has been a cardholder for less than a year.

Here is a sample of things “purchased” with a Centurion card:

* One cardholder wanted to locate and purchase the horse ridden by Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves. The horse was located in a stud ranch in Mexico, purchased and delivered to Europe.

* Another cardholder wanted a handful of sand from the Dead Sea for a child’s school project on the Holy Land. Someone was dispatched by motorcycle to the shores of the Dead Sea to obtain the sand, which was couriered back to London.

* Yet another cardholder required American Express to organize a wedding, including designing the wedding card, drawing maps to direct guests to the banquet, renting tuxedos and shoes for guests, and preparing the hotel room with a jacuzzi for the wedding night.

* And for another cardholder who aspired to be an actress and wanted to be part of the crew of a weekly soap opera on TV, American Express contacted the director and arranged for an audition.

Anyway, she gave me a generous 20% tip and was nothing but nice the entire time. She could totally buy me with her Black American Express card, but on her way out the door she kindly patted my back.