Leather Bag Charms: Roses, Bagels, Tassels and Tulips from $37 to $590

Leather is the one bag charm material that gets better with carrying. It softens, it darkens a little where your hand touches it, and it matches the leather of the bag it hangs from. Coach's Taxi Bag Charm is $37.50 and the Loop Bag Charm is $55, both small enough to leave on a bag every day. Kate Spade's Charmed Corded Rope is $48 and the Charmed Stacked Rose is $98. I would treat the first four as the starting point for anyone who has never hung a charm on a bag.

Kate Spade's Charmed line turns leather into small objects, and the pricing is easy to read. The NYC Bagel is $98, and so are the Love Notes charm and the Stacked Rose. Patricia Nash's Calla Bells with Butterfly is $69 and Old Trend's Avo Mini Leather Bag Charm is $55, a pair of avocados for much less. These are the charms that start conversations at the office, and they are light enough that the bag still hangs properly.

Below $100 you are buying a charm, and above it you are partly buying a name. Hammitt's Lady Leather Bag Charm is $95 and Tory Burch's Woven Leather Bag Charm is $100, the more discreet pair. McQueen's Leather Tassel Bag Charm is $490 and Christian Louboutin's Tulip Leather Bag Charm is $590. The tassel is plain and long, and it looks expensive for that reason alone.

I would buy the $37.50 Coach Taxi first and see how it wears. If it stays on your bag, the $98 Kate Spade charms are the next step, and the designer tulip and tassel are for a bag you plan to keep for years.