Hermes Dogon Compact Wallet Handmade In Togo Calfskin Leather Gold Hardware 2Z Blue Nuit

The first Dogon I carried ruined me for folding banknotes. This compact wallet in 2Z Blue Nuit measures twenty centimetres from edge to edge and twelve across the flap, which means notes lie down flat, unfolded, exactly the way they leave a cash machine. Small thing. I noticed it every week.

It opens like a book with a fold-down flap, and the metal keeper at the end of the strap carries a gold finish that reads warm against the dark blue. Togo calfskin is the reason the whole thing works: its pebbled grain is soft enough that the flap folds without a hard crease, and it has real body, so the wallet keeps its shape on a table instead of collapsing into a pile.

Inside, my habitual load is two cards and a handful of receipts in the front section, a couple of notes behind them, and a spare key card in the back. Flat bills mean I can see at a glance how the week is going, and the strap tucks neatly under its keeper. For travel days I have also slid a passport in alongside the cards, which is exactly what I want from a wallet of this size.

Honest trade-off: it is a two-handed object. Working the strap under the keeper at a busy counter takes about twice as long as flicking open a card holder, and it is not a wallet for a trouser back pocket. Carried in a jacket or a tote, it has not put a foot wrong in a season of near-daily use.