The Great Illinois Cornflake

Illinois cereal is a bit flaky

Monday, March 17, 2008

In what is surely the strongest signal yet that the world's economy is healthy and talk of an impending depression is piffle, someone has offered more than $1,000 on eBay for a piece of breakfast cereal that - its sellers claim - looks like the state of Illinois.

Two sisters listed 'The Great Illinois Corn Flake' on the auction site, promising that it had undergone no cosmetic alterations to make it look more Illinoisy.

Emily McIntire, a 15-year-old sophomore in high school from Chesapeake, Virginia, said she was grabbing fistfuls of cereal on her way to class when she found the flake.

'It was almost to my mouth, it didn't look like Illinois at first because it was held the wrong way,' said McIntire.

But then she noticed the resemblance and said, 'Oh my goodness, it's Illinois.'

Her 23-year-old sister, Melissa, said their parents suggested selling it for fun. They're offering free shipping, providing the buyer is in Illinois.

'At the moment it's residing in a fine jewelry box with a lot of cotton wrapped around it to keep it safe,' said Melissa.

In a stroke of genius, the McIntire sisters say they've decided to use the proceeds from the eBay sale to buy more boxes of Frosted Flakes.

'We've got to replace the one we've already sold,' Melissa McIntire said. 'We like cereal.'