Maybe not... was just a thought. Would look cool if you could though.

Actually, wsduncan, I wouldn't be surprised by exactly that. I grew up watching Disney's animated "Sword in the Stone." Merlin gets his head caught in a shrinking teapot, his wand/staff tangled in his beard. He was always forgetting and misplacing something. Archimedes (the owl) always had to be woken up to remind him of how the spells went. Yet, things did seem to work quite well for him, in the end.
Of course, this would have to be a comedy act, otherwise the audience might just feel sorry for you.

Just a thought about how to retrieve the fallen piece, couldn't you simply be working over a table, and the piece could fall onto the table's surface? This way it would still have fallen, but you would not have the trouble of having to bend over and pick it up (this would cover Amon-Re's worry of losing contact with the audience).
Perhaps this could explain why the fallen piece was not noticed. If the paper only falls to a table's surface, there would be less motion, as the piece only fluttered for a foot or so, and not all the way to the ground. Then, as the paper is restored, the magician could open it and realize that it is not wholly restored and begin to look for the missing piece. Once finding it, be annoyed and in a flash, the paper disappears.
Or perhaps the magician does not notice that it is missing, simply folding the "restored" paper and moving to the next effect. Then, turning to his table, he realizes that there is a scrap of paper that had to come from somewhere... I don't know where to go from here. Just typing it out as I think. Brainstorming, so to speak.

And brainstorming's the whole idea!

I like the litter stick bit, Pete. You're always full of ideas.

My little subtlety is I restore the paper, but notice there's a large piece missing. In the motions of looking down & around for the missing piece, everyone but me sees the piece stuck to my backside.

This works equally well for kids and adults alike.

I've used this effect as the finale to my show for 17 years; with and without the extra piece. PErsonally, I didn't find the audience response to be worth the effort of having a missing corner. When I did perform this piece, I would pick up the missing piece, show that it matched and pause for audience reaction, then say "Oh well" and crumple everything up. In my younger days I would then produce one or two doves from the crumpled paper.

Michael

How about picking the piece up and using a stapler to attach it to the restored paper, and then saying their you go it's completely restored?

I saw Stan Allan do the T&R newspaper the other night at a "It's Magic Show" in Tucson, AZ.

Stan was the MC. (very funny)

GREAT show BTW. If "It's magic comes to you town. DON'T MISS IT!!!

Stan Allan does the bit where a extra piece falls to the ground during the tear.

Then after the restoration he picks up the dropped piece and fits it into the missing section.

Funny stuff.

So if Stan Allen does it..........

Like Martha Steward alsway says, "It's A Good Thing"