Buyer's remorse after offer for `Virgin Mary' pebble
A Trade Me bidder may be praying for salvation after receiving a call to confirm they had just clicked the $50,000 "Buy Now" tag on a auction for a pebble.
Trade Me business manager Mike O'Donnell said a phone call to the bidder to verify the offer was met with "a serious intake of breath," followed by a long silence.
Mr O'Donnell said the person had not expected the bid to be taken seriously.
The pebble, said to be of elevated value as it bears the image of the Virgin Mary, was put up for auction by Christchurch woman Lisa-Marie Corlet .
Ms Corlet told The Press newspaper she discovered the pebble on a Kaikoura beach last year.
She said her $50,000 "Buy Now" tag (which allows bidders to purchase the item for a price specified by the seller, ending the auction) was not unreasonable as a toasted cheese sandwich showing the Virgin Mary had recently sold America for $US28,000 ($NZ37000).
The highest bid prior to the $50,000 click was for $5000.
"In contract terms this person made an offer that was accepted because of the `Buy Now'," Mr O'Donnell said.
"We have been in touch with the seller to see whether she wants to take further action against him, which she can through the disputes tribunal, or if she just wants to relist the item."
In July a bidder reneged on an offer to buy Prime Minister Helen Clark's old family car after the auction had appeared in the news.
However, Mr O'Donnell said illegitimate bids on high profile items were decreasing as "the penny dropped" and people realised they were making a binding offer.
Ms Corlet could not immediately be reached for comment.
The pebble which is no bigger than a nail. 
Lisa-Marie Corlett, a woman who lives in Christchurch, New Zealand has found a one centimeter wide pebble that supposedly shows the image of the Virgin Mary. She found the pebble while walking on a beach on the South Island of New Zealand.

Since finding the pebble, Coolett has stated that she has had some "good luck" lately, despite the fact that she does not practice any religion.

Coolett put the pebble up for auction on the popular New Zealand internet auction site ''Trade Me'' with a buy now of NZ$70,000. Later, she lowered the buy-now price to NZ$50,000. An American woman clicked the buy-now. "Trade Me business manager Mike O'Donnell said a phone call to the bidder to verify the offer was met with "a serious intake of breath," followed by a long silence. Mr O'Donnell said the person had not expected the bid to be taken seriously.". The highest bid prior to the $50,000 click was for $5000. The highest bid at the moment sits at NZ$30,900.50. Rumors that Coolett had decided to sell the pebble to an American lady who previously bought a piece of toast that supposedly had an image of the Virgin Mary on it, have been denied by her as mere hearsay.

"If someone is willing to pay 28,000 dollars for a piece of toast, I'm sure someone out there would pay at least that for a rock," said Coolett. 

Skeptics generally attribute such appearances to pareidolia.