Mormonism and Wikipedia/Golden plates/Composition and weight

Described format, binding, and dimensions

A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia: Mormonism and Wikipedia/Golden plates A work by a collaboration of authors (Link to Wikipedia article here)

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An analysis of the Wikipedia article "Golden plates" (Version December 10, 2009)

Described composition and weight

-	Wikipedia Main Article: Golden plates–	Wikipedia Footnotes: Golden plates–Notes	A FAIR Opinion
	The plates were first described as "gold", and beginning about 1827, the plates were widely called the "gold bible".	Harris (1859) , p. 167; Smith (1853) , pp. 102, 109, 113, 145; Grandin (1829) .
	When the Book of Mormon was published in 1830, the Eight Witnesses described the plates as having "the appearance of gold".	<ref name="Harvtxt|Smith|1830|loc=appx">Smith (1830)
	The Book of Mormon describes the plates as being made of "ore".	Smith (1830) .
	In 1831, a Palmyra newspaper quoted David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses, as having said that the plates were a "whitish yellow color", with "three small rings of the same metal".
	Joseph Smith, Jr.'s first published description of the plates said that the plates "had the appearance of gold"
	. But Smith said that Moroni had referred to the plates as "gold." Late in life, Martin Harris stated that the rings holding the plates together were made of silver,	Joseph Smith History 1:34; Harris (1859) , p. 165.
	and he said the plates themselves, based on their heft of "forty or fifty pounds" (18–23 kg),	Harris (1859) , p. 166
	"were lead or gold".	Harris (1859) , p. 169.
	Joseph's brother William Smith, who said he felt the plates inside a pillow case in 1827, said in 1884 that he understood the plates to be "a mixture of gold and copper...much heavier than stone, and very much heavier than wood".	Smith (1884)	From the cited source: We handled them and could tell what they were. They were not quite as large as this Bible. Could tell whether they were round or square. Could raise the leaves this way (raising a few leaves of the Bible before him). One could easily tell that they were not a stone, hewn out to deceive, or even a block of wood. Being a mixture of gold and copper, they were much heavier than stone, and very much heavier than wood.
	Different people estimated the weight of the plates differently. According to Smith's one-time-friend Willard Chase, Smith told him in 1827 that the plates weighed between 40 and 60 pounds (18–27 kg), most likely the latter.	Chase (1833) , p. 246.	Painful prose "Different people estimated the weight of the plates differently."
	Smith's father Joseph Smith, Sr., who was one of the Eight Witnesses, reportedly weighed them and said in 1830 that they "weighed thirty pounds" (14 kg).	Lapham (1870) .
	Joseph Smith's brother, William, said that he lifted them in a pillowcase and thought they "weighed about sixty pounds [27 kg] according to the best of my judgment".	Smith (1883) .
	Others who lifted the plates while they were wrapped in cloth or enclosed in a box thought that they weighed about 60 pounds [27 kg]. Martin Harris said that he had "hefted the plates many times, and should think they weighed forty or fifty pounds [18–23 kg]".	Harris (1859) , pp. 166, 169.
	Joseph Smith's wife Emma never estimated the weight of the plates but said they were light enough for her to "move them from place to place on the table, as it was necessary in doing my work".	Smith (1879)	Citation abuse— The meaning of a source quotation has been altered, or the source used does not support the author's conclusion. Violated by COgden —Diff: off-site The wiki editor states that Emma "said they were light enough" immediately after stating that she never estimated the weight. The cited source supports the first phrase, but not the second. Emma never said that the plates were "light" at all—she simply stated that she moved them. From the cited source: I moved them from place to place on the table, as it was necessary in doing my work.
	Had the plates been made of 24-karat gold (which Smith never claimed), they would have weighed about 140 pounds (64 kg).	Vogel (2004) .

References

Wikipedia references for "Golden Plates"

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