Yes, you too can custom bedazzle your credit cards
Have you ever looked at the credit cards in your wallet and wished at least one of them had a design that screamed, "This credit card cost me $200,000!"
Rosan Diamond, a company with offices in Switzerland and Russia, has the answer: custom bedazzling.
Rosan Diamond creates intricately detailed credit card designs, with precious gems, pearls, and intricate lapidary embedded into the world's thinnest but sturdiest gold. The mosaic designs are elegant and often inspired by eclectic cultural icons and symbols -- the Greek historian Herodotus, for example, or the Japanese swordmaster legend of Watanabe no Tsuna, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, DNA (the biological thing), Chinese pandas or the game of chess. The designs cost between $15,000 and $200,000.
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If those pre-made designs don't float your boat and you want something more personalized, they can design a card from scratch -- adorning it, perhaps, with family crests, images of beloved pets or a sports logo -- just for you and your spare $200,000.
Rosan Diamond works with Visa to create the cards. As a result, an Art Collection card works like any Visa "chip and PIN" card when you pull it out to pay at shops, hotels, restaurants and other retailers as long as they accept Visa (sorry, Mastercard enthusiasts). While the cards have a chip, they do not have a magnetic stripe nor are they embossed with personal information or a CCV code, which makes it more secure but also less flexible to use. To use ATMs or POS terminals, or to make internet payments, you still need a standard plastic companion card.
Rosan Diamond is not the only producer of fancy cards for high spenders. The list includes Amex's black titanium Centurion Card, Chase's (mostly copper and zinc) phased-out Palladium Card, the U.K.'s Royal Mint 18k-gold debit card and the gold-lined Dubai First Royale MasterCard that contains a .235-carat diamond. But Rosan Diamond has a slightly different approach.
To obtain one of these cards, you'd have to apply through one of their partners, which include VTB24 Private Banking (Russia), Bank of Moscow (Russia), Penates (Switzerland), ATF Bank (Kazakhstan) and the Insignia Group (U.K.).
Turn plastic into metal
For the rest of us, there are other ways to get a uniquely designed credit card. Companies like metal-creditcard.com and Lion Credit Card will turn your plastic into gold, stainless steel, carbon fiber or other metals with laser-engraved designs on them. Like Iron Man, for example.
You can also upload your own design.
To get one of these, you send the company your credit card (it might be a good idea to do it before it's been activated) and they transfer your card's EMV chip and magnetic stripe data onto a classier metal card. It works just as your plastic card would have, except the "tap and pay" feature will not work. (The Lion Credit Card website recommends you simply use your phone if you want to use that feature.)
Custom designs by metal-creditcard.com start at $170; Lion Credit Card's base price starts at $179.
Get a new credit card "skin"
If your budget for credit card design is even more limited, companies like Tenstickers (which also makes wall decals) and CUCU Cover provide pre-made designs or customizable skin options for your credit card. A CUCU Cover credit card sticker that says "Broke AF" (or one of your own design) would cost you $7.
Looking for a free option? Capital One and Wells Fargo allow customers to upload their own photos and designs for certain credit cards.
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