Warner Bros. Records label award for one million in sales of Neil Young's album After The Gold Rush. This classic album contained legendary Neil Young tracks including "Southern Man", "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" and "When You Dance I Can Really Love". The album peaked at #8 in the U.S. It featured such musical luminaries as Stephen Stills and Nils Lofgren (later of the Springsteen's "E Street" band).
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Item Highlights:
- Warner Bros. Records "platinum" award celebrating one million copies sold with "platinum" disc and silver brushed metal frame,
- In VG condition considering age with only frame wear
- Estimated to be from 1970-80
- Presentation to Neil Young's manager
- Award measures approx. 18" x 18.5"
- Beautiful and rare early Neil Young collector's item
- FREE insured shipping to continental U.S.
- International shipping available
Detailed Item Description: This is a first presentation label "platinum" award. The album was released on August 29, 1970 and was certified Gold by the RIAA for 500,000 copies sold by November that year. It was not actually certified Platinum for one million sold until Oct. 13, 1986 (and 2x Multi-Platinum on that same date), but it is likely that it reached that level considerably earlier than that. The reason is most likely that the label did not provide the documentation to the RIAA until 1986. Note that this is not a RIAA award but this information helps us date this award and accordingly it was likely made sometime between 1971-1985.
The award reads: "Presented to Elliot Roberts by Warner Bros. Records to commemorate the sale of more than one million copies of the Neil young album AFTER THE GOLD RUSH" Roberts, long time manager of Neil Young, also managed at various times Tom Petty, Tracy Chapman, Bob Dylan and The Cars. In addition, in 1971 he co-founded Asylum Records with David Geffen.
The award is a solid and quite heavy vintage award in VG condition. The internals are in Excellent condition including the bright and shiny "platinum" disc, label and plexiglass. The brushed metal frame has some fairly significant tarnishing and minor scratches but frankly this is a good indicator that this award is indeed from 1970-80.
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Notes on the condition of all vintage 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