Hermes Birdy Charm Vanille – Jaune Ambre – Noir – Bleu Saphir – Bleu Glacier – Etoupe H083886CKAG

There are bag charms made of felt and gold-plated zipper pulls, and then there is this: a bird stitched from matte Mississippiensis alligator, Niloticus lizard, Mysore goatskin, Epsom calfskin and Milo lambskin, in a palette that runs from vanilla through amber to sapphire blue and back via glacier blue and Étoupe.

The alligator portion is matte-finished, which is unusual and clever — at this scale a glossy scale would look like a button, while matte leaves the pattern readable and the bird slightly serious. Add lizard, with its fine, dense pebbling like a miniature mosaic, and the whole object becomes a sampler of the house’s leathers disguised as a toy.

Proportions are friendly to everyday use: about as tall as a small coffee cup and a little longer than it is tall, with just two centimetres of depth, so it hangs flat against a bag without bashing into doorways. The palladium-plated hardware keeps the metal cool while the colours do the talking. I like it best on structured, dark bags where vanilla and amber genuinely glow.

What I would tell a friend before they carry it: these are natural skins in pale tones, and pale reptile particularly dislikes water spots and oily hands, so this is a fair-weather companion. Between wears, a dust bag on a shelf — not the bottom of your handbag — keeps the lizard’s sheen and stops the Milo lamb from matting. That small discipline is the price of owning five fine leathers in your palm.