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Offered Here: Van Halen 1988 OU812 Platinum Sales Award Presented to Zeke Clark With COA
Item Details: Crank up the volume for this sensational artifact from the height of the Monsters of Rock era, featuring an authentic RIAA platinum sales award for Van Halen's 1988 chart-topping juggernaut, OU812. Commemorating the massive commercial milestone of sales exceeding one million copies, this coveted presentation celebrates the global success of definitive anthems like 'When It's Love' and 'Finish What Ya Started.' The award is designed in the highly collectible flower hologram style of the late eighties, seamlessly bringing together both the platinum record and cassette formats in one visually powerful presentation. Carrying unbeatable inner-circle provenance, this 17 x 21 inch award is officially presented to Zeke Clark, the band's legendary longtime lead guitar technician, making it a premier, museum-quality addition to any elite rock and roll collection.
Provenance/Authenticity: Randall "Zeke" Clark is a renowned luthier and legendary guitar/amp technician who got his start in the San Francisco music scene in the 70s, working with various A-list artists until moving to LA in the 80s, where he worked for Eddie Van Halen.
From 1985 to 1993, he served as Edward Van Halen’s lead guitar and amp tech, transitioning to the crew with Sammy Hagar to maintain the band's gear through the monumental 5150, OU812, and For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge eras.
Beyond his historic tenure as the custodian of Eddie's tone, Clark's elite five-decade career includes building, repairing, and maintaining specialized gear for iconic artists such as Prince, Sammy Hagar, Journey, Heart, Poison, and others. This curated selection of items offers collectors a unique and direct connection to rock history through the hands of a master craftsman who shaped the sound of guitar royalty.
This item was personally handled, vetted, and released by Zeke Clark, ensuring its authenticity and rock-history provenance. Zeke Clark utilizes an Official Personal Signature Stamp to validate and inventory documents and artifacts released directly from his private estate. This item comes with his personal ink-imprinted signature stamp on the certificate of authenticity, which serves as his legally binding, authorized mark of verification and carries the full weight of a hand-signed signature.
Released in 1988, OU812 was Van Halen's second studio album with Sammy Hagar, following 5150, and it continued the band's commercial run by reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The album produced radio and MTV staples such as "When It's Love" and "Finish What Ya Started," and its success led Van Halen to headline that summer's Monsters of Rock stadium tour of North America. The record showed that the Hagar-fronted lineup could sustain the popularity the band had built with David Lee Roth, while Eddie Van Halen's playing remained central to its sound.
Condition: The award is preserved in very good condition, presenting a strong front display with honest signs of wear, aging, and storage from its history in the music industry. The front plexiglass shows faint surface scuffing upon close inspection, and the official RIAA flower hologram applique itself has developed heavy discoloration and staining, giving it a uniquely weathered, vintage look. Structurally, the specialized Formica frame covering has lightly lifted along a small portion of the right side at the back. On the reverse side, the backing paper appears to have been removed previously and since reapplied using black electrical tape, documenting its handled history as a prized, personal industry keepsake from Zeke Clark's archive.
SKU: RZC2130