The coats - one fashioned from lustrous mink, the other from whorls of sable-colored Persian lamb - rest on hangers from a high-end furrier. A tag is looped around each fur, marked with the name of the woman who once owned them and, in bold, black letters: "EVIDENCE."

One would not normally expect to find a pair of luxurious coats hanging in a conference room in the Office of the State Prosecutor. But these furs have a remarkable past: Gifts to former Mayor Sheila Dixon from a developer and then-boyfriend, they were seized by investigators after Dixon failed to disclose them on city ethics forms. Dixon surrendered the furs to the state last month as part of a plea deal to settle criminal cases that led to her resignation.

Now begins the next chapter in the coats' history: The state prosecutor's office is selling them on the online auction site eBay.

"This is a first for our office," said State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh, who led the years-long City Hall corruption investigation.

The coats, and the former mayor's camcorder, were posted Wednesday afternoon, joining an Xbox gaming system seized from Dixon's home that was offered for auction earlier this week. Bids on the Xbox have soared past $800, more than seven times the going rate for comparable equipment.

"I never in a million years would have thought the price would go up that high," said Rohrbaugh. "But the higher the better."

The proceeds raised by the coats, the gaming system and a camcorder that prosecutors say Dixon bought with gift cards intended for the poor, will be donated to Youthworks, a pet program of the former mayor that provides summer jobs for teens. That satisfies yet another aspect of Dixon's plea deal, to which, for curious online shoppers, the eBay page links.

The fur coats were bought from Mano Swartz in the Village of Cross Keys with gift certificates purchased by an aide of Dixon's then-boyfriend, Ronald H. Lipscomb.

During the prosecutor's probe, an investigator noticed a fur storage fee on Dixon's credit card statement and spoke with several furriers. At Mano Swartz, employees produced receipts for two coats that prosecutors tied to Lipscomb's credit card. In June 2008, the furs were seized from a storage vault at the furrier.

They never appeared in court, although they were mentioned in numerous hearings and news reports. Lipscomb, the owner of Doracon Contracting, was hired as a subcontractor on lucrative projects with substantial city tax breaks. He and Dixon dated for several months, whirling off on lavish shopping sprees to Chicago and New York, according to prosecutors.

Dixon never revealed on ethics forms that she had accepted gifts from him, resulting in an indictment for perjury. The case did not come to trial but was settled when Dixon offered an Alford plea, which means she did not admit guilt but acknowledged prosecutors had enough evidence to convict her. Under the plea deal, she retained her $83,000-a-year pension but had to resign from office, perform 500 hours of community service and give up several of the disputed items, including the coats.

In December, a jury found her guilty in another case, of embezzling about $500 worth of gift cards intended for the poor and using them to buy the Xbox and camcorder.

The prosecutors are not experts in the care and storage of fine furs. And so, they deferred to the staff at Mano Swartz, who advised keeping the coats in a cool, dry place. The investigators hung them in the computer room of their Towson office.

For a year and a half, the furs dangled from a beam next to the whirring computer mainframe, occasionally giving investigator Drayton Peterson a jolt.

"You'd walk in there and the furs were always twisting in the wind," said Peterson, the office's resident technology expert.

Peterson was charged with the task of posting the coats online. The accompanying text reads more like a legal brief than the effusive prose on an eBay posting.

The Persian lamb — a sporty, zippered jacket with beige quilted trim — is described as being "surrendered to the Maryland State Prosecutors Office as evidence in the trial of former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon" and sold "pursuant to the plea agreement."

It was posted with a minimum price of $500 and had also reached more than $800 by Thursday afternoon.

Alex Papafotis, a singer, songwriter and actor from Greektown, said that he had placed the first bid for $510 but was quickly outbid. But the 28-year-old said that he would consider bidding up to a few hundred dollars more for the coat, which he described as "a piece of Baltimore history."

"I'm split between keeping it or actually giving it back to Sheila Dixon," he said. "She did a lot of good stuff for the city and it would be my way of saying, 'You can still wear this jacket and have a little bit of dignity.' "

The glossy mink, by far the more lavish coat, had received 6 bids, up to $1,275, by Thursday afternoon. It is described as "burnt umber," a rich, ruddy brown, although an insurance appraisal from the furrier refers to it as "burnt under."

Both coats are described as being sold "as is" with no warranty. The auction will close on March 17.

The auction hopefully will serve as a reminder to elected officials who might be tempted by gifts from those seeking favors, Rohrbaugh said.

"I hope it sends the message, 'You're going to be very embarrassed,' " he said.