Simple and trustworthy.

Sometimes something so simple, so elegant and so well designed crops up that though it does not involve photography, I feel duty bound to report on it to my readers.

The shining exemplar of that class is the Bic ball pen about which I waxed lyrical some six years ago. It remains the only writing instrument I use.

Another accoutrement which I have long taken for granted reminded me of its great design this week when it finally failed. After 20 years my Hartmann credit card holder split a seam and said ‘No more’. Had it not been for this failure I would never have thought to remark on how wonderful this simple tool is.

Hartmann rather quaintly style it the ‘Belting Leather Calling Card Case’ which conjurs up images of visiting the Astors on Fifth Avenue in the Gilded Age to present one’s credentials. In a world where cellphones have taken the place of calling cards the name may be dated, but the utility value of this Hartmann case remains as great as ever.

There are five divisions in all, one central and two on either side. Mine gobbles up a driver’s license, a credit card, my AAA card, two flat car keys with holders, a health insurance card, one blank cheque, an ATM card and one of those ‘in case of emergency contact the nearest morgue’ cards. Nothing can fall out and nothing has these past 20 years.

Amazon carries it for all of $30 here; if I recall, the original cost me $18 in 1993, which my HP12C (another all time classic) informs me represents a compound annual inflation rate of 2.587%. Not half bad. I suspect Chinese cows provide the leather today, but the replacement looks every bit as well made as the original. The wasteful, profligate packaging is the only shame here.