Just how much is a piece of Howard’s Rock worth?

To Clemson University and its football fans, Howard’s Rock is priceless.

To the defense attorney for the man accused of climbing the fence at Memorial Stadium and chipping off a chunk of it, that makes it worthless as a piece of merchandise.

“The idea that it has any value as memorabilia is so speculative as to be insane,” Frank Eppes told the judge in the case against Micah Rogers during a pretrial hearing at the Pickens County Courthouse on Monday.

“No true Clemson fan is going to spend money to buy this and keep it for themselves.”

But Circuit Judge James R. Barber denied Eppes’ motion to not allow a testimony from a sports memorabilia expert who the Solicitor’s Office said has valued the six-inch piece chipped from the rock the Tigers rub before they run down the Hill at the start of games at between $32,000 and $132,000.

The expert determined the value of the piece that was chipped off in June 2013 based on what the entire rock could be sold for if the university were to decide to break it into pieces and sell them individually, which assistant solicitor Baker Cleveland said would be up to $1 million.

“It is Clemson’s prerogative to sell the rock or not,” Cleveland said. “They have been deprived of the opportunity to do that.”

Clemson has no intention of selling the iconic rock from Death Valley, California, placed in Death Valley stadium by legendary coach Frank Howard, Eppes said.

Rogers, 20, has been charged with grand larceny of value over $10,000 and malicious damage to property. He has pleaded not guilty, and Eppes says any larceny charge in the case should be for a value under $2,000.

Eppes argued that the value of the rock hasn’t been diminished in the hearts of Clemson football fans, who still visit it on game days and have their pictures taken with it.

A seven-woman, five-man jury was selected and instructed to return to court at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday to begin the trial.

Other individuals who were with Rogers, and a relative, have been charged with obstruction of justice in connection with the incident and will be tried separately, court officials said.

This story was originally published July 21, 2015 at 9:06 AM with the headline "Just how much is a piece of Howard’s Rock worth?."