what would you call a magazine with no newsstand sales, just five articles, four ads, and an unknown, very small, number of subscribers? If you are the publishing arm of American Express, you would call it nothing.

The cover of the new nameless magazine, which will be out this week and mailed only to holders of the company's Centurion card - the mysterious, much-coveted black credit card - is blank, save a black-on-black pattern designed by Tomas Maier, the creative director of Bottega Veneta.

The cover of each issue will be different, but they each will have something in common: no name, not even a squiggle like the artist once again known as Prince used back in his nameless days.

"We wanted it to be mysterious and beautiful, and I think we have succeeded," said Richard David Story, editor in chief of the magazine.

The magazine is designed to serve as a point of identity for holders of the Centurion card, the company's most exclusive credit card.

American Express does not like to disclose the number of the so-called black cardholders, but they have to spend more than $150,000 a year for the privilege of paying an annual fee of $2,500 for their credit card.

And even then, they have to be invited.

So how many people actually have a Centurion card? "About the same number of people who can afford a Mercedes Maybach," said Desiree Fish, a spokeswoman for American Express, referring to a luxury car that can list for more than $300,000. At an industry conference in 2001, the company said that about 5,000 people have a Centurion card in their back pocket.

The magazine, which includes articles about a giant, single-mast sailboat and a luxury lodge in Namibia, is lush, but not expansive.

"These customers have no time," said Ms. Fish. "They lead a hectic, stressful life, and they want value, not clutter."

Centurion cardholders already receive Departures, but that also goes to holders of the Platinum card, so now those with the black cards have a magazine all to themselves. If that all sounds mysterious, that is the point: a black card is plastic bling-bling, a way for celebrities, athletes and major business people to express their status.

And now instead of whipping out their Centurion cards every chance they get, they can just plop the nameless magazine on their punishingly expensive coffee tables.

Just so long as everyone gets the message