RIAA Gold LP award for Iron Butterfly's Ball album, which was released on Jan. 17, 1969. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on July 22, 1969 for 500,000 copies sold. While reframed in a shadow box style with its original 1964-74 white matte era components, this is a hard-to-find award presented to the Iron Butterfly debut album producer Charles Greene.
The album, the follow up to their break-out album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, featured two singles that found places on the Billboard charts: "Soul Experience", which reached #75 on the Billboard Top Singles chart and "In the Time of Our Lives" which got to #96. It was the group's final album to feature the most famous lineup of Doug Ingle, Ron Bushy, Lee Dorman and Erik Brann. It reached #3 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart.
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Item Highlights:
- RIAA Gold LP award
- Presented to producer
- Has been reframed in shadow box style using original white matte award components
- Award components from 1969-70 RIAA award, age of reframed award unknown
- In Good condition (see details below)
- Award measures 19" x 23"
- Great collectors item for Iron Butterfly fan
- FREE insured shipping to continental U.S.
- International shipping available
Detailed Item Description: This is a RIAA Gold award that was reframed as a shadow box award somewhere along the way using some original white matte components. It is presented to Charles Greene, who produced the first Iron Butterfly album and who also worked with Buffalo Springfield, Dr. John, Sonny and Cher, Allen Toussaint, Neil Young and others.
This award does not have an original RIAA "white matte award era" frame, rather it has been reframed in a natural wood shadow box. The presentation plate, gold record and album miniature are fairly clearly from an original white matte award, but the matte, frame and overall presentation were clearly created later and are not in the style of official RIAA award construction. Based on observation, the award is however, fairly aged. The original award was probably damaged and the components were salvaged by an unknown maker to re-create this award at the behest of its recipient.
It is in Good (not VG) condition, with some small but noticeable dents in the gold record disc (see image), which show it is made with a white matte era metal mother disc. The presentation plate also has a slightly bent lower left corner and the backing paper has some tears. The award has a glass front.
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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