  The overhand shuffle is one of the ``real'' card shuffling methods in the
sense that some people actually use it to mix a deck of cards. A mathematical
model was constructed and analyzed by Pemantle [J. Theoret. Probab. 2 (1989)
37--49] who showed that the mixing time with respect to variation distance is
at least of order $n^2$ and at most of order $n^2\log n$. In this paper we use
an extension of a lemma of Wilson [Ann. Appl. Probab. 14 (2004) 274--325] to
establish a lower bound of order $n^2\log n$, thereby showing that $n^2\log n$
is indeed the correct order of the mixing time. It is our hope that the
extension of Wilson's lemma will prove useful also in other situations; it is
demonstrated how it may be used to give a simplified proof of the
$\Theta(n^3\log n)$ lower bound of Wilson [Electron. Comm. Probab. 8 (2003)
77--85] for the Rudvalis shuffle.
