What the Helmet? Cowboys Auctioning Off Coolest, Kitschiest Item for Salvation Army.

Yesterday, while looking for something entirely unrelated on Heritage Auction Galleries' website, I came across this what-the-what: Dallas Cowboys 50th Anniversary Celebratory Helmet Created by 3-D Pop Artist Charles Fazzino Benefiting The Salvation Army. Twenty-four hours ago it was going for $800; now I see it's up to $1,100. And...

By Robert Wilonsky

December 14, 2010

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Yesterday, while looking for something entirely unrelated on Heritage Auction Galleries' website, I came across this what-the-what: Dallas Cowboys 50th Anniversary Celebratory Helmet Created by 3-D Pop Artist Charles Fazzino Benefiting The Salvation Army. Twenty-four hours ago it was going for $800; now I see it's up to $1,100. And that was before HAG's Noah Fleisher sent out a press release, mere moments ago, with further info about the auction, which closed at 10 p.m. Sunday.

Says Heritage president Greg Rohan in that press release, "This is a one-of-a-kind piece of art by a famous artist created specifically to benefit a great charity. We're hoping that bidders open their hearts and wallets to make this a tremendous fundraiser for The Salvation Army."

Fazzino, of course, is the fellow responsible for the Official Super Bowl XLV poster and attendant artwork. And no doubt about it -- this is one highly detailed piece of work, from the inclusion of all three Cowboys homes to the list of Super Bowl MVPs to 50 seasons' worth of scribbled catchphrases and nicknames and on and on. Alex Flores, our art director, and I spent 20 minutes yesterday looking at mammoth photos of the helmet -- all of which are available on the Heritage site -- trying to decide if it was the coolest or cheesiest thing we'd ever seen. Yes, it is.

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