The $10K Club

Belgrade MCMXI

A glimpse inside

A watercolour of a quiet drawing room with a fireplace, tall curtained windows and a woman reading.

A private club, a place of ambition and discretion, of a long table and an unhurried evening.

A watercolour of a drawing room hung with portraits, where three women sit by the fireplace.

Behind a door, the house keeps its rooms for members alone: a dining room, a party room, a working room with the door closed.

A painting of a banquet beneath a marble colonnade, guests seated at a long white table.

Its history begins in Belgrade on the ninth of May, 1911, with a dinner, a toast and an agreement.

A loose watercolour of a marble statue among dark garden foliage in summer light.

What has been kept since is simple: a small company chosen with care, and the habit of making time for one another, as time being the most precious currency.

The Club keeps few rules, but it keeps them. These are the customs its members observe.

  1. Discretion

    What is said at the table stays at the table. Members do not speak for the Club, nor of one another, beyond its company.

  2. Introduction

    No one applies. A member may introduce a friend; the members decide together, and without haste.

  3. The Table

    The life of the Club is a shared table. Seats are not assigned, and no one is left to dine alone.

  4. The Host

    Each gathering has a host among the members, who chooses the place, the hour and the menu, and whose word on the evening is final.

  5. Guests

    A member may bring a guest when the host agrees, and answers for that guest as for themselves.

  6. Photographs

    Nothing is photographed or shared from a gathering without the consent of everyone in the picture.

  7. Dress

    Dress follows the occasion and the host’s note. Care is expected; display is not.

  8. The Hour

    The hour named by the host is the hour kept. A member who is delayed sends word ahead.

  9. Telephones

    Telephones are kept out of sight at the table. Calls are taken elsewhere, and briefly.

  10. No Business

    Nothing is sold, solicited or pitched between members at the Club’s table. Friendship is not traded upon.

  11. Correspondence

    The Club writes rarely and in private. An invitation is addressed to one person, and is not passed on.

  12. The Ninth of May

    Each year the Club marks the day of its founding with a dinner among its members.

The roll of members is short, and published only with each member’s consent.

The Members(by invitation only) Return to the Club