  We present a study of the cataclysmic variable star PT Per based on archival
XMM-Newton X-ray data and new optical spectroscopy from the WHT with ISIS. The
X-ray data show deep minima which recur at a period of 82 minutes and a hard,
unabsorbed X-ray spectrum. The optical spectra of PT Per show a relatively
featureless blue continuum. From an analysis of the X-ray and optical data we
conclude that PT Per is likely to be a magnetic cataclysmic variable of the
polar class in which the minima correspond to those phase intervals when the
accretion column rotates out of the field of view of the observer. We suggest
that the optical spectrum, obtained around 4 years after the X-ray coverage, is
dominated by the white dwarf in the system, implying that PT Per was in a low
accretion state at the time of the observations. An analysis of the likely
system parameters for PT Per suggests a distance of $\approx90$ pc and a very
low-mass secondary, consistent with the idea that PT Per is a "period-bounce"
binary.
