Card Conversion
Your chip. Our metal.
Post us the card you already carry. We cut a metal body to match it, engrave it, and move the EMV module across under a microscope. You get the same account in an object worth taking out.
Contactless does not survive the transfer. The antenna stays in the plastic. Read everything below before you decide — we would rather lose the order than have you find out afterwards.
Before you send anything
Contactless will stop working
The NFC antenna is a coil laminated into the plastic body, not part of the chip module. Moving the chip leaves the antenna behind, and metal shields radio in any case. After conversion the card works by insertion only. For tap payments, use Apple Pay or Google Pay — the card stays in your wallet app unaffected.
The magnetic stripe is unlikely to survive
Where a stripe can be carried over it will be, but we do not promise it. Stripe acceptance is being retired across Europe regardless.
The card belongs to your bank, not to you
Under the terms of essentially every German and EU issuer, the physical card remains the property of the issuing bank and must be returned on request. Converting it will in almost all cases breach your cardholder agreement. Read your own terms before you send anything, and ask your bank if you are unsure.
Your bank may block or reissue the card
A bank that notices a modified card may cancel it. If it reissues with a new number, expiry or chip, your metal body no longer matches and would need to be redone.
We cannot guarantee every terminal
We test on a live terminal before returning your card. Individual terminals, ATMs and card readers may still reject or retain a metal card. Do not convert a card you rely on as your only means of payment.
We are not a bank
OBSIDANE is not a bank, an issuer, a payment institution or an agent of any of them. We do not open accounts, issue cards, touch your balance or change your terms. We change the body your existing chip sits in, nothing else.
The legal position in Germany is unsettled
Modifying a payment card touches on § 303 StGB (property belonging to another) and § 152a/152b StGB (alteration of payment instruments). Whether a chip transfer performed on your own instruction falls under these provisions has not been settled by the courts. We tell you this before you order rather than after, so you can take your own advice.
01Service
Three levels
Conversion Core
Your chip, moved into a brushed steel or obsidian black body with your name engraved on the face.
- Metal body, 316L stainless
- EMV chip module transfer
- Name engraving, front
- Insured shipping both ways
Conversion Signature
Any of the six materials and finishes, your own layout and artwork, engraved front and back.
- All six materials and finishes
- EMV chip module transfer
- Custom layout, both faces
- Logo redrawn as vectors
- Insured shipping both ways
Conversion Obsidian
Deep-cut engraving, an edge-cut serial number, a wood case and a signed certificate.
- Everything in Signature
- Deep engraving, 0.15 mm
- Edge-cut serial number
- Wood case and certificate
- Insured shipping both ways
02How it runs
Your card is out of your hands for about a week.
- 01
Configure and pay
Choose the material, finish and engraving. Nothing is posted yet.
- 02
Shipping kit
We post a tracked, insured envelope with a prepaid return label and a rigid card carrier.
- 03
Card received
Logged, photographed on arrival and stored in a locked safe. You get the photograph.
- 04
Body cut
The metal body is cut, engraved and finished to match your card's layout and chip position.
- 05
Chip transfer
The EMV module is released from the plastic and bonded into the metal body under a microscope.
- 06
Function test
Tested on a live chip terminal with a zero-value authorisation before it leaves us.
- 07
Returned
Posted back insured and tracked. The remains of the plastic card go back with it, or are destroyed on request.
03What we accept
- Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex)
- Debit and girocard
- Prepaid and travel cards
04What we refuse
- Cards you are not the named holder of
- Corporate cards without written authorisation from the company
- Cards already damaged, delaminated or expiring within six months
- ID cards, health cards, residence permits and any government document
- Cards where the chip module is bonded flush and cannot be released intact
We refuse without discussion and return the card. Government documents in particular are never candidates, whatever the customer says about them.
05Request
Check your card first.
Not every card is a candidate — chip modules differ in how they are bonded, and some cannot be released intact. Send the details and we tell you before anything is posted or charged.
Also worth knowing
If you want metal in your wallet without touching your bank card, our standard cards carry NFC for contact details and have none of these complications.