RIAA Platinum LP award for Journey's Frontiers album, which was released on Jan. 23, 1983. The album was certified Platinum by the RIAA on April 4, 1983 for one million copies sold.
The album reached #2 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart on the strength their rock/pop radio takeover with Hot 100 singles "After the Fall" (#23), "Send Her My Love" (#23), "Faithfully" (#12), and "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" (#8). By 1997 the album was certified 6x Multi-Platinum for six million copies sold. See image above for the RIAA sales certifications of this album through the years*.
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Item Highlights:
- RIAA Platinum LP award
- In Good to VG condition
- First presentation award from 1983
- Presentation to radio station
- Has original backing paper (see details below)
- Known as a "floater" award because the components appear to "float" above the matte, they were made officialy from 1975-1981, and also into the early 80s by other manufacturers who made awards for the music industry
- RIAA floater awards numbered only 25-50 plaques worldwide for any given single/album
- Award measures 17" x 21"
- Beautiful collectors item for any Journey fan
- FREE insured shipping to continental U.S.
- International shipping available
Detailed Item Description: This is a first presentation RIAA Platinum award that would have been manufactured in 1983 making it approx. 40 years old. The award is presented to KTXQ, a Fort Worth, Texas radio station.
The award is in Good to VG condition. with typical scratches and mars on the frame and plexiglass and some matte fading. The backing paper looks to be original, including a card affixed, possibly indicating that it was made by a division of Fitzgerald Hartley called Pic Disc Inc., that developed the picture disc. The details of this award show that it was clearly not made by an RIAA-licensed award maker (Fitzgerald Hartley later did become an award maker officially licensed by the RIAA), but the aging of the award is fully consistent with it being 40 years old.
These factors combine to indicate that this is most likely a "grey area floater" award made in the 80s, and all that is truly known--despite the clearly aged card attached to the award's backing paper-- is that it was made by an unknown, unlicensed manufacturer, possibly a former staffer from Fitzgerald Hartley. For more information on awards such as this, see the section on "floater awards" in our record award guide article here.
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Notes on the condition of all vintage RIAA awards like this one:; Please do not buy this item if you want a brand new piece of memorabilia. These are historical artifacts from the year they were produced. As a result they may show signs of wear. Frankly, if you see a 20 to 50-year-old award purported to be in 100% perfect condition, it might be too good to be true. After all, an antique should have "good' wear. If not, you might want to question the piece.
As to where they came from, they could have been displayed in record label offices, recording studios, artist manager's offices, radio stations, private collector's homes and yes, of course, possibly the artist's or songwriter's home. Typically, we don't know all the places they may have been over the years other than what we've stated in the description.
Finally, a word on photos: Our photos are zoomable so you can get a very good look. Do let us know if you want photos of any other details on our pieces and we'll be happy to provide.
*RIAA sales data source: RIAA.com