Long wallet from the Hermès MC² line, the "MC² Fleming," in the house's classic Gold tan grained calf with contrasting white topstitching. Opening book-fashion to an interior with five credit card pockets and five long pockets for bills, stamped in gilt "HERMÈS / PARIS / MADE IN FRANCE." Minor loss to stitching inside, modest staining. 7 x 3.75 inches; 17.5 x 9.5 cm.

Hermès was founded in Paris in 1837 by Thierry Hermès as a workshop making harnesses and bridles for the carriage trade, and the saddle-maker's discipline of fine leather and precise stitching still defines its small leather goods. The MC² line takes its name from Einstein's E = mc², and its models are named for scientists (the Copernic, the Euclide and the Fleming among them), the last honoring Sir Alexander Fleming, the Scottish bacteriologist whose discovery of penicillin in 1928 earned him a share of the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Unbranded on the outside and sober in design, the MC² pieces belong to the Hermès tradition of quiet luxury, recognizable only to those who know where to look.