Hermes Bearn Compact Wallet Handmade In Epsom Calfskin Leather Silver Hardware OZ Comics OS Vert Fizz

Most wallets are asked to behave. This one asks to be seen: the Bearn compact in the Comics and Vert Fizz colourway sets a graphic print against a soft green, and the effect is less sweet than that sounds. Vert Fizz leans pale and mineral, and the comics line work gives it an adult, printed-paper cool. It is the wallet equivalent of a patterned shirt: it does the talking so the rest of you does not have to.

Mechanically it is the same smart piece as every Bearn compact: an openwork H tab in silver-tone metal that slides over the leather flap, four card slots, four pockets, a bill pocket for notes and a zipped purse for change. Twelve by nine and a half centimetres, handmade in France, Epsom calfskin throughout. That pressed grain again, keeping the wallet’s posture exact no matter what the queue at the counter is doing.

I treat mine as my colour wallet, the one that goes into a plain coat and makes it interesting. Paired with black or ecru it looks deliberate; next to other brights it looks like a fight. The zip purse means it can be my only wallet on days I am carrying coins, which is more often than minimalism admits. It also photographs well, if you are the sort who photographs wallets.

The honest caveat for this colourway: a pale green will eventually show a pen mark or a denim rub, the price of the personality. It also draws comments, so choose it for days you like talking about your wallet.