The people at eBay were no believers in this cheesy miracle: half of a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich whose owner claimed it bore the image of the Virgin Mary.
Diana Duyser put the sandwich up for sale last week, drawing bids as high as $22 000 before eBay pulled the item on Sunday night.
The page was viewed nearly 100 000 times before being taken down.
An e-mail Duyser received from eBay said the sandwich broke its policy, which ”does not allow listings that are intended as jokes”.
But Duyser, a jewellery designer who has bought and sold items on eBay for two years, insisted this was not a laughing matter.
”How could eBay do this to me?” Duyser said on Monday, hours before the online auction was supposed to have ended.
A spokesperson for eBay, Hani Durzy, said he did not have enough information to comment specifically on the case.
Duyser thought eBay would be the best place to show off the sandwich, made on plain white bread with American cheese. It was cooked with no oil or butter.
Duyser (52) said she took a bite after making it 10 years ago and saw a face staring back at her from the bread. She put the sandwich in a clear plastic box with cotton balls and kept it on her nightstand.
At first, she was scared by the image, ”but now that I realise how unique it is, I wanted to share it with the world”, Duyser said.
The sandwich, she added, has never sprouted a spore of mould. — Sapa-AP