The Marc Jacobs-designed floral print thermal top retailed for $760 when it landed on the racks for the winter 2001 season, but thanks to a large hole sliced in the side where a security tag was once affixed, it now could fetch many times that at auction.

It's not the increased ventilation that could make the peach top worth its weight in gold—it's that the "modification" was made by actress Winona Ryder during her famous shoplifting spree at the posh retailer Saks Fifth Avenue in December of that year.

Along with an $80 pair of cashmere socks, a $200 headband, and a $1,595 Gucci dress, the Jacobs top helped prosecutors win a conviction of felony theft and vandalism against Ryder in November, 2002. Ryder did not mount an appeal and now the fate of the evidence is in question.  Should it be destroyed, as Saks has asked—or should it be auctioned for charity, as Ryder's attorney, Mark Geragos countered in court Monday?

"I think it's absurd to destroy the clothes," Geragos told Courttv.com Tuesday.  "I wouldn't be surprised if they auctioned off for somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 dollars."

Geragos' client, the doe-eyed star of films like "Mr. Deeds" and "Little Women," was convicted of stealing more than 20 items totaling more than $5,500 from the pricey Beverly Hills retailer. Ryder was given a sentence of three years probation, drug and psychiatric counseling. She was ordered to pay Saks for the items she stole and an additional $2,700 in fines.

Geragos' unconventional, but economical, suggestion to auction off the stolen booty was made public Monday during a progress report for Ryder's probation.  Lawyers for Saks Fifth Avenue said they wanted the items, many of which were damaged during Ryder's attempt to dodge the store's security measures, destroyed.

It remains unclear who actually owns the clothing.  Geragos asserts that Ryder's restitution reimbursed the store for the stolen items, but Saks has refused to cash the check until the items are destroyed.

A letter from Saks to Geragos and Deputy District Attorney Ann Rundle states of the matter: "Since you have asserted that payment of restitution by Miss Ryder somehow divests Saks Fifth Avenue of its ownership of the merchandise that the jury determined was stolen and vandalized by Miss Ryder, we are holding the check without prejudice to, and with full reservation of, Saks Fifth Avenue's rights."

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eldon Fox will ultimately decide what happens to the clothes and other items offered as evidence during Ryder's two-week trial.

Costly clothing with the celebrity touch

Saks has maintained that the cuts and tears on the clothes, which led to the vandalism charge against Ryder, make the merchandise worthless.  But while Saks' upscale clientele may have no use for the out-of-date, damaged items, movie buffs might drive the bidding into the stratosphere, say those who specialize in such memorabilia. 

"As far as clothing goes, anything that is celebrity, people want it—people will pay anything if they love that person," said Lisa Markoff, owner of the Coral Springs, Fla. retailer, The Celebrity Closet.

Markoff says two important factors are that the clothing defines an episode in Ryder's life, and that many of the items bear Ryder's personal touch. 

Some of the evidence might even bear her blood.  One security guard at the trial testified that she saw Ryder using an orange-handled pair of scissors to cut security tags off of clothing and accessories while in a Saks dressing room.  When Ryder exited the dressing room, she asked for a bandage for a cut on her finger.

The security guard pointed out dark blotches on one of the purses Ryder was found with, suggesting the tan leather had been stained by her blood.

If the auction succeeds, look for the more costly items, such as the white, floor-length Gucci dress, to fetch the most money.

"If I were a Winona fan, I would love to have something like that," Markoff said. 

Most of all, said Markoff, an item's place in history determines its price at auction. The dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy on May 19, 1962, for example, sold for $1,150,000 at a 1998 Christie's auction

Ebay bidders, start your engines

Most evidence in criminal prosecutions consists of documents, crime scene photographs, and even the occasional firearm, says Los Angeles-based criminal defense attorney Anthony Salerno.  The proposed Ryder evidence fire sale raises some interesting questions.

"She's not going to appeal, so the trial is over and the court doesn't have any right to hold it," said Salerno.  "She did pay for it, even though she was forced to, so it could be said that it's hers."

Kyle Christopherson, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County court system, said Geragos will have to file a written motion to obtain the clothing.  Saks, which still owns the items under the law, has not sent anyone to pick up the no-longer-needed items of evidence.

"Saks never came to get them," said Christopherson.  "Standard Superior Court procedure is to keep them in court for five years and if no one comes to claim them, they are destroyed."

Saks executives did not return calls for comment.

Ryder won't have much need herself for the items she stole: After her trial, the actress (who turned the daily march through the courthouse metal detector into her own version of a catwalk) inked a deal to hawk Marc Jacobs clothing as a spokesperson. 

According to Geragos, his Academy Award nominated client has worked hard to put the trial behind her. 

"They might have value because of [the trial] or because they have intrinsic value.  There were $200 hairbrushes and things like that," said Geragos.  "The idea that the court can barely scrape together enough money to keep the courts open and we're asking the court to destroy them in some sort of bonfire to appease the prosecutorial gods, that's just ridiculous."

(A recent budget crisis has forced the Los Angeles Superior Court system to shutter a number of courthouses and send employees on unpaid furloughs.)

On Monday, Ryder appeared in court as Superior Court judge Eldon Fox gushed over her zealous community service.  Fox told onlookers he had received "very complimentary" reports about the court-ordered 480 hours she spent with the Duarte, California.-based City of Hope group, which researches HIV, cancer, and other serious diseases.

For now, the evidence will remain in the control of the court.  Judge Fox said Monday that he needed more time to decide what to do with the designer garb, but that he would look into several alternatives to destroying it.

Until then, the merchandise will remain stuffed in boxes and locked in an evidence room in the Beverly Hills courthouse where Ryder stood trial.

No word yet on why the Marc Jacobs thermal top, a riff on the standard long underwear shirt, went for $700 to begin with.