Yahoo Japan withdrew a valueless "test" copy of a not-yet-issued banknote from its auction Web site Thursday after bidding for it reached $90 million. The banknote, posted for auction Monday by a bill collector in Shanghai, was a pre-issue sample of a new 1,000-yen note ($9). The collector bought it from a garbage collector who specialized in notes disposed of overseas, according to the auction site. "We were afraid the auction site would be swamped, which might cause trouble to our computer server," a Yahoo Japan official said, according to the Mainichi Shimbun. The banknote appeared to be real, as it had neither a serial number nor the seal of the Bank of Japan president. The National Printing Bureau, which test-printed the bills ahead of the issue of real ones on Nov. 1, has begun in-house investigations to find out if any of its test bills were stolen, as they were supposed to have all been burned. It is also worrying if the bill is fake, as its high-tech features supposedly make it counterfeit-proof. © Copyright 2004 by United Press International

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