Diners' Club Australia Credit Card, United States, 1957
date: label: date made
content: 1957
notes: label: Description
content: Founded by Frank McNamara in 1950, the Diners' Club Card was among the country’s earliest charge cards. Before the time of plastic credit cards and digital payments, the novelty of paying for an expensive meal by using the Diners’ Club card made membership a status symbol. At the end of the month, Diners’ Club would bill their members and send the payment to the restaurant, minus their 5-7% processing fee. Alfred Bloomingdale’s charge card company, “Dine and Sign” merged with Diners’ Club in 1951, when he became The Diners’ Club president. This card was only valid in Australia, and expired in September, 1956. As Diners’ Club became more popular it was often used as a payment method for tourists during their travels, freeing them from constantly changing money or traveler’s cheques.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place used
content: Australia
label: place made
content: United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
label: See more items in
content: American Enterprise
label: See more items in
content: Coins, Currency and Medals
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Bloomingdale, Alfred
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: NU.72.66.29
label: catalog number
content: 72.66.29
label: accession number
content: 301409
label: serial number
content: -078
objectType: label: Object Name
content: credit card
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5.5 cm x 9.5 cm x .2 cm; 2 5/32 in x 3 3/4 in x 3/32 in