Articles — RIAA white matte award

In this article we take a close look inside every detail of RIAA "white matte" awards, the style of RIAA awards made exclusively by the New York Frame & Picture Co. (NYF&P Co) from 1964 to 1974/early 1975 when the RIAA mandated a design change to the "floater" style.            1964-early 1975 RIAA "white matte" award (left/top), 1975-81 "floater" award (right/bottom) The purpose of this article is to help collectors of these awards know if a white matte award they may be considering is authentic. We thought long and hard before planning this article because we don't want...

The iconic status of The Doors is punctuated by the fact that they were the first group to see their first eight consecutive albums be certified Gold by the RIAA. Their star burned brightly, both live and in the studio, until the group disbanded after singer/poet Jim Morrison's untimely death at the age of 27 in 1971. RIAA record awards for the group have always been highly desired by collectors, especially when those awards are highly coveted "white matte" awards from the 60s and early 70s. Even more so, when they are presented to the group or members of the...

An iconic RIAA Gold Album award has come onto the market for Elton John's April 1970 American debut. The award sports the special -- are rare -- feature that it is presented to Sir Elton himself. This is the album that started it all for Elton in the USA since his U.K.-released debut album Empty Sky was not released in the U.S. until 1975.  This also made his self-titled album his first RIAA Gold record in the USA. The album's track list included iconic breakthrough hit "Your Song", arguably he and Bernie Taupin's finest composition, and reportedly Elton's personal favorite. The...