Ebay

Back in occupied Italy at the end of World War II, the story goes, naive GIs frequently purchased "ancient" Roman coins at bargain prices, proof of age being substantiated by the dates stamped upon them - 43 B.C., for instance. Well, the old coin minted in the final days of the Roman Republic that will be offered Thursday by Alderfer Auction & Appraisal bears no such date. Consequently, it is expected to sell for $600 to $800, according to the online catalog, most easily accessed at www.liveauctions.

Gettysburg, Pa., book publisher Dean Thomas was browsing through Civil War documents for sale on eBay in September when he noticed something familiar about one of them. He went to a folder at his house and found a photocopy of the same document, which he made at the National Archives 20 years earlier. It had the same ink blotches and smudges. "I thought the archives was either having a sale or it was stolen," Thomas, 58, said. "And I knew the archives wasn't having a sale.

A 40-year-old summer intern smuggled 165 Civil War-era documents from National Archives offices in Philadelphia and sold them on eBay, officials said yesterday. The intern, Denning McTague, used a backpack to sneak letters, telegrams and military orders - including one announcing the death of President Lincoln - from the archives' Market Street office. Such thievery is rare, said Susan Cooper, a spokeswoman for the National Archives in Washington. "I've been here 25 years and I can only remember three or four cases like this," she said.

Silicon Valley tech firms Apple, eBay and Advanced Micro Devices reported higher quarterly profits after the markets closed yesterday, but AMD shares fell in extended trading when the company said profit margins had declined. The results followed earnings statements a day earlier reporting significant profit declines at tech firms Yahoo Inc., Motorola Inc., and AMD rival Intel Corp. Apple Computer Inc. said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose 27 percent, well past analysts' expectations, boosted by sizzling sales of its iPod music players and Macintosh computers.

He came, slapped his knee and giggled with glee, fell to the floor, and begged for more. And then he disappeared. Sort of. At stores across the region yesterday, parents were dismayed to find shelves bare of T.M.X. Elmo, the 10th anniversary incarnation of the furry, red doll unveiled by Fisher-Price just 24 hours before. Going online, shoppers soon learned that the shortage was made even worse by a raid on retail outlets by speculators who had listed an army of Elmos on eBay.

As eBay has grown from a virtual flea market to a market force, it's also grown up. Now, it's possible to click and find sophisticated home-decorating resources - everything from Ralph Lauren wallpaper to McCoy pottery. Type in "damask upholstery fabric," for example, and on a typical day you'll find 90 listings for items such as five yards of a Brunschwig & Fils blue-and-gold silk stripe (retail $100 a yard). The eBay cost: a lot less. Providing, of course, that you resist the adrenaline rush of online bidding and don't overpay.

Dine with Flavia. Drink with Flavia. Hang with Flavia as she flitters around Manhattan. This and much more could be yours on eBay, where Flavia Colgan, the head-turning MSNBC commentator and former chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, is auctioning herself for charity. The date will be worked around the Pennsylvania Society social gathering, next weekend's annual extravaganza for Pennsylvania pols in New York City. The plan is she'll pick you up at the train station in a town car, and whisk you off to the MSNBC studio in New Jersey, where you will meet talk-show host Tucker Carlson before returning to Midtown for more tapings and more parties.

The original Star Trek television series lasted only three years (1966 to 1969) and wasn't much of a hit in its time. But as any Trekkie will happily inform you (telepathically or otherwise), it had a latent meteoric impact on American pop culture. We don't want to pass judgment on those who idolize the former cast members. We don't understand them. But hey. We never understood James Joyce, either. Still, there is something a bit strange in the latest news from the Starship Enterprise.

Maybe Britney Spears wanted to keep her jewel-encrusted bra for herself. Who knows? The onetime teenybopper singer in low-slung jeans has pulled that bra from Internet auction site eBay. The sparkling undergarment was one of dozens of wardrobe items and other personal belongings that Spears put up for bid on eBay to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims. Bidding had surpassed $60,000 before Spears pulled it. In a message posted on her official Web site, Spears, 23, told fans she was "concerned that some of you might be confusing this bra with something that it's not. " OK, so maybe it's true Spears fans' elevators don't go all the way to the top floor, but a bra is a bra, right?

In their never-ending quest to raise money, state and local governments are starting to realize what the rest of the country learned shortly after the advent of the Internet: You can sell almost anything on the Web. States such as Georgia and California say using online auction sites like eBay and Assets.com has allowed them to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars beyond what traditional auctions generate. Nevertheless, Philadelphia and most suburban counties still make do with the traditional auctioneer in an auction hall, even though the Internet's international reach, combined with the ability to market property over several days, makes Web auctions a can't-miss proposition.