A man, a plan, a cornflake
CHENEY – When the McIntire sisters found a cornflake shaped like Illinois in their breakfast bowl a few weeks ago, they reportedly shouted, “Let’s sell it!” and unknowingly spawned a craze.
The flake fetched $1,350 for the Chesapeake, Va., sisters, and scores of others took to pawning off oddly shaped bits of cereal for a quick buck.
A recent search on the online auction site eBay listed more than 20 such flakes for sale, resembling George Washington’s head, a swimming seal, and, well, a cornflake.
One seller unloaded an imperceptible “Emperor’s New Cornflake” (with free shipping) for a whopping 35 cents. Another cornflake, loosely shaped like Michigan, sold for $86. Six “cornflake items” have been successfully sold on the site in recent months, although few of these have garnered prices as hefty as the McIntire flakes, an eBay spokesperson said.
Amid these masses of crunchy collectibles, Cheney resident Ken Morris hopes his California-shaped offering will stand out from the fray.
Morris says that he could scarcely believe it when he heard that the operator of an Internet trivia site paid so handsomely for the Illinois cornflake. The buyer, Jon Wolf, told reporters he plans to add it to his collection of pop-culture oddities and display it alongside Jack Ruby’s hat and Marilyn Monroe’s datebook.
When Morris heard the news, he says he immediately thought of what the money could buy his 1-year-old daughter, Kayleigh.
“I’m thinking, well, shoot, if I can get 50 bucks I’ll be happy, because then I can get her something,” he says. Kayleigh’s birthday was last month, and the strapped-for-cash Morris wasn’t able to afford much in the way of presents. He wants to buy his daughter Leap Frog, a learning game.
“We’d like to get her some clothes and a couple toys, maybe take her to Chuck E. Cheese’s,” says his wife, Heather.
With this in mind, Morris sprang into action. “I went into the kitchen and laid out some big old trash bags,” he says. “I dumped out some cornflakes and just started picking them up and looking.”
“I thought he was nuts,” says Heather.
Undeterred by his wife’s laughter, Morris spent an hour and a half on his hands and knees, searching for familiar silhouettes in crispy corn. One flake after another was thrown aside, but then Morris spied an outline of the family’s home state, California, aptly known as the Golden State.
The state’s motto, “Eureka,” must have broadcast through the kitchen. “When I came to that one I could identify with it,” says Morris.
He listed the flake on eBay, but so far it’s drawn few bids.
“That’s the part I don’t understand,” says Morris. “The McIntire sisters put theirs on saying, ‘We want a trip to go to Disneyland,’ but come on, here I am barely making ends meet, trying to get stuff for Kayleigh, you know? Maybe I should say I want to go to Disneyland, and that will get me bids.”
With his auction closing Friday, Morris is crossing his fingers, hoping for a bite. He says that, whatever the outcome, at least he’ll know he tried. If nothing else, says Heather as she bounces Kayleigh on her knee, the flake will make a great addition to the baby book.