One of these is worth more than nine cents. Hint: It also maintains its crunchiness regardless of how long it’s left in milk. (Special to The Press-Enterprise)

The only “conversation” I have about a corn flake shaped like Illinois is, “Are you going to eat that?”

I checked for anything resembling California on eBay.

For sale are a California-shaped rainbow sticker ($4.99), a California-shaped turquoise wall clock ($9.99) and a California-shaped desk pen set, made of out of glazed redwood ($19.99).

Twenty bucks for a pen set seems like a bargain compared withto the going rate for eerily shaped breakfast cereal.

As of Monday afternoon, bidding on the Illinois flake had reached $1,525, but the item description promises “free shipping to Illinois!” which could save as much as $6.

I just hope postage and handling includes plenty of bubble wrap.

Heaven forbid, your corn flake is broken in transit and winds up shaped like Hawaii or an Olsen twin.

Contact Jeff Girod at 951-368-9585 or jgirod@PE.com or log on to www.myspace.com/jeffgirod