pages: latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf, 18

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latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf	18		2 LATEST MAGIC border as depicted in Fig. 1, and about seven inches in diameter. In the centre of each is an embossed shield, ostensibly a mere ornament, but in reality serving, as will presently be seen, an important practical purpose. Fig. 1 To the casual observer the two mats look pre- cisely alike, but there are in reality important practical differences between them. The "coin" mat is covered with leather on both sides, and each has the embossed shield, so that, whichever side is uppermost, no difference is perceptible to the eye. In the case of the "card" mat the upper surface only is of leather, the under side being covered with baize. The object of this difference is that the exposure (accidental or otherwise) of the baize- covered side of the card mat may induce in the mind of the spectator the assumption that the under side of the coin mat is covered in the same way, such assumption naturally precluding the idea that it is reversible.