The Lord may move in mysterious ways but his mother, it is claimed, has chosen a rather ordinary piece of cheese on toast to make herself known to the world!

Diana Duyser screamed and almost fainted as she chomped into a grilled cheese sandwich 10 years ago because she saw the face of the Virgin Mary staring back at her.

"I yelled for my husband Gregg and he couldn't believe it neither," Mrs Duyser said yesterday.

The toasted likeness sits - a bite out of its bottom left corner - surrounded in cotton wool in a plastic box. But now, after a decade of watching over the Duysers from her crusty caryatid, Mary is on the market to the highest bidder on eBay...

But Mrs Duyser's luck may have run out. While the opening offer in the auction was for $US3000, and the bidding soon passed the $US20,000 mark, by yesterday more than 187,000 people had viewed the item and spoof bidders had pushed the price up to $US99 million.

It was not viewable on the site late yesterday.

The battle for the miracle melt has already caused a furore: when it was first offered last week, bidding was halted at $US22,000 when eBay declared the offer a prank.

The Duysers fought back and offered to prove that they really did have a likeness of the Virgin Mary made out of old melted cheese. Satisfied with the evidence, the website allowed the auction to continue.

But the pranksters are out in force. Apart from forcing the price into the stratosphere, spoof sellers are also offering cheese sandwiches depicting Elvis and the Last Supper.

One offered "the Virgin Mary in Spam, not grilled cheese" and wrote: "Those who believe that the Virgin Mary can appear in food products like grilled cheese have no chance of being saved."

The Duysers still live a simple life in Florida, despite all the attention, from this and other realms. And they still like a nice piece of cheese on toast.

"I eat it all the time," Mrs Duyser said. "Only now I have a good look before I bite."