Dark brown, closer to espresso than to cognac, matt. The stitching and the edges are in the same tone, so the wallet reads as one piece. The grain of the leather shows more than on the black version, because a lighter colour simply shows more.

Not while the wallet is shut. The shielding layer stops the reader reaching any card inside, so the gate cannot pick up two cards at once and charge the wrong one. The trade-off is that you cannot tap through the wallet either: you take out the one card you want to use. The ID window and the zipped pocket next to it are a good place for a travel card, because you can reach it without going through the card slots.

All of them, and you never have to fold a note in half. The note section runs across the whole opened wallet - about twice its closed width, so roughly 19 cm. The longest note in circulation, the £50, is 146 mm, and the £20, £10 and £5 are shorter. When you close the wallet the notes curve with it, the way they do in any folding wallet, and they straighten out again when you take them out.

Yes, the SM-907GBR: the same idea and the same leather with a natural grain, only on its side. It is 12.5 × 9.5 × 2.5 cm and has fewer card slots than this one, but the protection, the outside coin zip and the snap are the same. See the sideways version.

No, and that is exactly what the protection is for. RFID BLOCK™ stops the signal even when you want to pay yourself - the terminal cannot reach the card through the cover of the wallet. You take the card out to pay and put it back.

The simplest way to tell: empty the wallet you carry now and count. This model has eight separate card slots, an ID window, two slots for documents larger than a card, two note sections and an outside coin zip. The leather gives, so at a push two cards go into one slot - the wallet then gets thicker. If you carry more than ten cards, take the version with eleven slots: the SM-904, same size.

It is, if you carry the full set - cards, ID, documents, notes and change - and want it in one place. It is not, if you want something flat for a front trouser pocket. At 2.5 cm and eight slots this is a roomy wallet, not a slim one; for cards alone the KUK-200 aluminium card holder is 1 cm thick.

Not fully. The shielding material is sewn into the outer cover, so your cards are protected when the wallet is fastened on the snap. With the wallet laid open, part of the inside is uncovered.

Yes. The slots of a leather wallet are stiff at first and settle to the thickness of your cards after a few days of use. There is no point stretching them by force - the leather does it on its own.

Keep it away from water and radiators, wipe it with a dry or slightly damp cloth and now and then go over it with a colourless full-grain leather conditioner.