The Internet auction house eBay Inc. has changed its mind and bids are again being accepted for half of a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich that its owner says bears the image of the Virgin Mary.Diana Duyser, of Hollywood, put the sandwich up for sale last week, drawing bids as high as $22,000 before eBay pulled the item Sunday night. The page was viewed almost 100,000 times before being taken down. It was back up on eBay by Tuesday morning.
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 work-from-home jewelry designer who has bought and sold items on eBay for two years, said the grilled cheese wasn't a joke.``How could eBay do this to me?'' Duyser said Monday, hours before the online auction was supposed to have ended.
EBay spokesman Hani Durzy said he did not have enough information to comment specifically on Duyser's case, adding that the online auction house typically has about 29 million items on its site.
Duyser thought eBay would be the best place to show off the sandwich, made on plain white bread and American cheese and cooked with no oil or butter. She said she took a bite after making it 10 years ago and saw a face staring back at her from the bread.
Duyser, 52, put the sandwich in a clear plastic box with cotton balls and kept it on her night stand.
At first, she was scared by the image, ``but now that I realize how unique it is, I wanted to share it with the world,'' Duyser said.
She said the sandwich has never sprouted a spore of mold.
You can find Duyser's sandwich by going to www.ebay.com and entering the number 5535890757 in the What Are You Looking For slot in the Search engine.
