The Golden Plates

The stone box · 1823

“Under a stone of considerable size”

On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box. This stone was thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the ground, but the edge all around was covered with earth. Joseph Smith—History 1:51

Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate, as stated by the messenger. The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two stones crossways of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other things with them. Joseph Smith—History 1:52 · read the chapter

Joseph first saw the plates in 1823 but was told to wait. He received them on 22 September 1827 (JS—H 1:53, 59). The illustration is ours, drawn from the verses above. It is not a photograph and not a reconstruction of the actual site.

Illustration: in autumn woods at dawn, a heavy, rounded, moss-covered fieldstone lid is pried up by a wooden lever from a box of stones laid in cement in the hillside. Inside, resting on the stone floor of the box: the plates as one closed, thick stack of thin pale-gold leaves bound along one long edge by three D-shaped rings, the top leaf covered in worn decorative marks; a hammered copper-toned breastplate with rivets around its edge; and two clear stones, each marked with a triangle, set in a silver bow. — Illustration, not a photograph. The setting is drawn from the verses at left (JS—H 1:51–52): the rounded stone, the lever and the stone box. The two crossways stones under the plates are not clearly shown. The contents are artistic, styled after a modern replica: the plates closed, a single thick stack about 6 by 8 inches and about 6 inches thick, bound by three D-rings (the size and rings are described by Joseph Smith, 1842), a hammered copper-toned breastplate with rivets, and the Urim and Thummim as two clear stones in silver bows. The engraving is decorative, not real characters. Not a reconstruction of the actual site or objects.

A later account

A room of plates in the same hill

In 1877 Brigham Young recounted Oliver Cowdery’s description of a large cave room in the Hill Cumorah, with many plates and the sword of Laban unsheathed on a table. The account is secondhand.

The cave in the Hill Cumorah →

The dimensions · Joseph Smith, 1842

Six inches by eight, about six inches thick

each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long and not quite so thick as common tin … bound together in a volume, as the leaves of a book with three rings running through the whole. The volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. Joseph Smith, “Church History” (the Wentworth letter), Times and Seasons, 1 March 1842, p. 707 · josephsmithpapers.org

6″wide · 15.2 cm

8″long · 20.3 cm

6″volume thickness · 15.2 cm

3rings

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3D model by us, built to the Wentworth-letter proportions in the blueprint. The engravings are vector traces of a surviving 1829–31 copy of the characters, set out in an artistic layout. Ring size, hole placement, leaf count and which half is sealed are artistic estimates; no source records them. The gold surface (hammer marks, wear, patina in the grooves, uneven edges) is an artistic rendering, and the leaves are drawn a little thicker than the 0.02″ estimate so 60 leaves fill the unsealed half. Lighting: “Studio Small 09” HDRI by Sergej Majboroda; stone: “Dark Rock” by Amal Kumar, both CC0 from Poly Haven.

What the witnesses said

Later witness statements vary a little. That is normal for people describing something from memory. Here they are as the Church's history topic gives them, with who said each one:

Feature	Range	Who
Width × length	“six” or “seven inches wide by eight inches in length”	Joseph Smith (6″); Martin Harris, 1859, and David Whitmer, 1888 (7″)
Thickness of the whole	“between four and six inches”	Martin Harris, 1859 (4″); Joseph Smith, 1842 (about 6″)
Each leaf	“the thickness ‘of plates of tin’”	Martin Harris, 1859
Weight	“about ‘forty to sixty’ pounds”	Martin Harris interview, 1870
Rings	“Three D-shaped rings bound the leaves ‘through the back edges’”	David Whitmer, 1877
Sealed	“about the half of the book”; it “appeared as solid as wood”	David Whitmer, 1878 (Joseph Smith: “a part”)
Sound	leaves would “rustle with a metallic sound when the edges were moved by the thumb”	Emma Smith, 1879

Church History Topics, “Gold Plates” · churchofjesuschrist.org. The topic adds that plates of pure gold this size have been estimated at “at least 45 kilograms (100 pounds).” It also notes that William Smith believed the plates were “a mixture of gold and copper.”

What was with them

The Eight Witnesses wrote that the plates “have the appearance of gold,” that they “did handle with our hands” the translated leaves, and that the engravings had “the appearance of ancient work, and of curious workmanship.” They added: “we have seen and hefted.”

The Testimony of Eight Witnesses · churchofjesuschrist.org

Joseph wrote that with the record was found “a curious instrument which the ancients called ‘Urim and Thummim,’ which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rim of a bow fastened to a breast plate.”

Wentworth letter, 1842 · josephsmithpapers.org

Blueprint · study drawings

Measured drawings

Every 3D proportion on this page comes from one parameter file. Sourced values are 6″ × 8″ plates, a volume about 6″ thick, three rings, and part of it sealed. Everything marked * is an artistic estimate needed to draw or build it.

Drawn as vector sheets (SVG) and exported at 4K (PNG, 4608 px). Amber values marked * are artistic estimates. Sources are printed on each sheet.

February 1828 · New York City

The characters go to the learned

Martin Harris, a Palmyra farmer who helped Joseph, carried a transcription of characters to scholars. He wanted to learn what they were, and whether the work was worth backing.

Illustration: in a book-lined study in winter, a young professor in an 1820s tailcoat examines a handwritten sheet of characters with a magnifying glass while a farmer in a brown coat stands holding his hat. — Illustration, not a photograph. Martin Harris (about 45) shows the characters to Professor Charles Anthon (about 30) in New York City, February 1828, imagined from JS—H 1:64–65. Faces and the room are artistic.

Harmony, Pa.Joseph copies characters “off the plates” and translates some, December 1827–February 1828 (JS—H 1:62–63).

AlbanyHarris stops to ask Luther Bradish whom to visit (Church History Topics).

Columbia CollegeProfessor Charles Anthon examines the characters (JS—H 1:64–65).

Dr. MitchillSamuel L. Mitchill “sanctioned what Professor Anthon had said” (JS—H 1:65).

He then said to me, ‘Let me see that certificate.’ I accordingly took it out of my pocket and gave it to him, when he took it and tore it to pieces, saying that there was no such thing now as ministering of angels, and that if I would bring the plates to him he would translate them. I informed him that part of the plates were sealed, and that I was forbidden to bring them. He replied, ‘I cannot read a sealed book.’ Martin Harris's account, Joseph Smith—History 1:65 · read 1:63–65

The Church's history topic notes: “In later statements, Anthon denied having authenticated the characters,” and that “disagreements between these historical accounts leave some questions about the trip unanswered.” Either way, “Harris came away more convinced than before.” · Martin Harris's Consultations with Scholars · Saints ch. 5

“A book that is sealed”

Harris and Joseph later spoke of the visit as fulfilling Isaiah. The Book of Mormon tells the same prophecy at more length.

Isaiah 29:11–12 (KJV)

churchofjesuschrist.org

2 Nephi 27:15, 17–18

churchofjesuschrist.org

Translation · 1828–1829

“By the gift and power of God”

Joseph Smith would not explain the method in detail. He said the work was done “by the gift and power of God.”

The Church's essay says that “almost all of the present Book of Mormon text was translated during a three-month period between April and June of that year [1829].” Emma Smith said the plates “often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen table cloth.”

The interpreters were “a clear pair of stones bound together with a metal rim.” Joseph also used a seer stone. The essay says the two instruments “were apparently interchangeable and worked in much the same way.”

Gospel Topics Essay, “Book of Mormon Translation” · churchofjesuschrist.org

Illustration: in a plain farmhouse room, a young man in a linen shirt and waistcoat dictates while a young scribe writes with a quill; a bundle wrapped in a small linen cloth lies on the table. — Illustration, not a photograph. Joseph Smith dictating to a scribe in 1829, with the plates “wrapped in a small linen table cloth” on the table, as Emma Smith described (Gospel Topics essay). The method itself is not pictured; Joseph said only that it was “by the gift and power of God.”

When asked if Joseph had dictated from the Bible or from a manuscript he had prepared earlier, Emma flatly denied those possibilities: “He had neither manuscript nor book to read from.” Gospel Topics Essay, “Book of Mormon Translation”

…the record of the people of Nephi … Written and sealed up, and hid up unto the Lord, that they might not be destroyed—To come forth by the gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof… Title Page of the Book of Mormon · churchofjesuschrist.org

June 1829 · Fayette, New York

The witnesses

“And in the mouth of three witnesses shall these things be established” (Ether 5:4). The 1830 first edition carried two testimonies.

Illustration: three men in 1820s clothing kneel in a wooded clearing before a radiant messenger in a white robe, without wings, who holds out a stack of gold plates. — Illustration, not a photograph. The Three Witnesses, June 1829, imagined from their testimony: “an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates.” The messenger is shown robed and glowing, without wings. Faces are artistic, not portraits.

The Testimony of Three Witnesses

“…we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon…”

Oliver CowderyDavid WhitmerMartin Harris

Read the full testimony

The Testimony of Eight Witnesses

“…for we have seen and hefted, and know of a surety that the said Smith has got the plates of which we have spoken.”

Christian WhitmerJacob WhitmerPeter Whitmer, Jun.John WhitmerHiram PageJoseph Smith, Sen.Hyrum SmithSamuel H. Smith