The Weight of the Plates

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The Weight of the Plates

109 Primary Sources

A Mormonad from the August 2005 issue of The New Era magazine with a picture of the golden plates titled "Worth More Than Its Weight In Gold." — An official Mormonad from 2005.

Physical descriptions of the plates.

Date	Length	Width	Height	Individual Plate Thickness	Source
August 11, 1829	8 in.	6 in.	-	1/8 in.	Jonathan Hadley (second hand)[BIO][1]
December 1830	7 in.	6 in.	6 in.	-	The Philadelphia Album (unsourced) [2]
March 19, 1831	8 in.	8 in.	-	"tin plate"	Obadiah Dogberry[BIO][3] (second hand)
November 7, 1832	12 in.	12 in.	6 in.	-	Josiah Stowell[BIO][4]
1839	8 in.	8 in.	6 in.	"very thin"	John Corrill[BIO][5] (second hand)
1840	7 in.	8 in.	6 in.	"not quite as thick as common tin"	Orson Pratt[BIO] (second hand)[6]
April 18, 1841	8 or 10 in.	"less in width"	5 in.	"panes of glass"	William Smith[BIO][7]
March 1, 1842	8 in.	6 in.	6 in.	"common tin"	Joseph Smith[8]
1842	8 in.	6 in.	-	-	Lucy Mack Smith[BIO][9]
August 1859	8 in.	7 in.	4 in.	"common tin"	Martin Harris[BIO][10]
July 31, 1878	8 in.	6 or 7 in.	-	"just so thick, that characters could be engraven on both sides"	John Whitmer[BIO][11]
July 11, 1881	9 in.	6 in.	-	"parchment"	David Whitmer[BIO][12]

How big were the plates?

According to an 1842 description from Joseph Smith,[BIO] the Book of Mormon was engraved on "plates which had the appearance of gold."[13] Joseph said they were six inches wide, eight inches long, and six inches thick, and the leaves were almost as thick as "common tin."[14]

Other descriptions of the plates closely match these dimensions:

How much did the plates weigh?

Those who handled the plates reported that they weighed between 40 to 60 pounds.[15] Others more vaguely described them as "very heavy."[16]

But if the plates were about 6x6x8 inches (288 cubic inches) and made of gold, wouldn’t they have weighed over 200 lbs?

Yes, if the plates were a solid brick of pure gold.[17]

Weren't the plates supposed to be made of pure gold?

No. The Book of Mormon mentions another set of plates (from the Jaredites) that were made of “pure gold" (Mosiah 8:9). The Book of Mormon doesn't specify the material of the plates that Moroni buried and Joseph translated. It only identifies them as "plates"[18] made of “ore,”[19] which just means some kind of metal.

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109 Primary Sources

Footnotes

BIOJonathan Hadley
Jonathan A. Hadley was an early Church critic and the editor of the Palmyra Freeman and Lyons Countryman. The Palmyra Freeman was an anti-Masonic newspaper. Hadley wrote and published a couple articles critical of Joseph Smith and the early Saints. His writing and editing career was most active from the 1820s into 1840s.
BIOAbner Cole
Abner Cole (AKA "Obadiah Dognerry, Esq.") (1783-1835) was a 19th-century American newspaper editor. He was one of the earliest critics of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Writing under the name of "Obadiah Doberry, Esq." for the Reflector newspaper in Palmyra, he wrote the first public criticisms of "Mormonism." Cole knew some of the contents of the Book of Mormon before it was published as it was being printed in the same one-room print shop as his newspaper. Starting in January 1830, the Reflector printed the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon, accompanied by his own criticisms. According to Cole, Smith was too uneducated to have written the Book of Mormon, and theorized that Smith got help from "Walters the Magician" (Luman Walter).
BIOJosiah Stowell
Josiah Stowell (1770–1844) was born and raised a member of the Presbyterian Church. In 1825, he hired Joseph Smith to dig for Spanish silver in Harmony, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. He was a witness to Joseph Smith's court proceedings in South Bainbridge in 1826 and 1830. He was present at the Smith home when Joseph Smith arrived with the gold plates in 1829. He would later be baptized a member of the Church ca. 1830.
BIOJohn Corrill
John Corrill (1794-1842). Baptized a member of the Church on January 10, 1831, at Kirtland. He served a mission to New London, Huron Co., Ohio, in 1831, and on June 4, 1831, was ordained a high priest by Lyman Wight. He served as the second counselor to Bishop Edward Partridge. He was appointed one of ten high priests to watch over the ten Missouri branches, September 11, 1833. He was appointed "Keeper of the Lord's store House" at Far West, May 22, 1837. With Elias Higbee, he was appointed a church historian, April 6, 1838. On November 1838, Corrill testified for the prosecutoin at Joseph Smith's hearting in Richmond, ray Co., Missouri. He was excommunicated March 17, 1839, at Quincy, dcams Co., Illinois. He published A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, (Commonly Called Mormons), in 1839.
BIOOrson Pratt
Orson Pratt (1811–1881) was born in Hartford, New York, and was an apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was called on many missions. He was excommunicated from the Church in August 1842, after allegations of Joseph Smith's impropriety. Pratt was rebaptized in January 1843 and served as a leading pamphleteer for the Church and defender of the faith.
BIOWilliam Smith
William Smith (1811–1893) was a brother of Joseph Smith and served as one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. William became the Church's patriarch following Hyrum Smith's death in 1844. William was excommunicated when he publicly accused Brigham Young of covertly practicing polygamy.
BIOLucy Mack Smith
Lucy Mack Smith (1775–1856) was the mother of Joseph Smith, Jr. Born and raised in New Hampshire, she married Joseph Smith, Sr. in 1796. A faithful Presbyterian and a committed Seeker, Smith believed her son's claims to visions. She stayed with the Latter-day Saints throughout her life until Nauvoo, when age prohibited her from traveling with the Saints to the Intermountain West. She composed and dictated the most thorough history of Joseph Smith's early life, which became The History of Joseph Smith By His Mother, transcribed by scribe Martha Coray.
BIOMartin Harris
Martin Harris (1783–1875) was an early Latter-day Saint leader. He married his first cousin Lucy Harris, on March 27, 1808, in Palmyra. Harris served in War of 1812 in the New York Militia. His contributions to Church history include serving Joseph Smith as a scribe from April to June 1828. He was one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon and was baptized on April 6, 1830. He was excommunicated in December 1837 and subsequently became a member of the high council of James J. Strang's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Harris later joined William C. McLellin's movement in 1847. He migrated to Salt Lake Valley in 1870, where he was rebaptized.
BIOJohn Whitmer
John Whitmer (1802–1878) was an early convert and leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Church's first historian and recorder, and one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. Brother to David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon and another early prominent Church leader, John served as a scribe and recorder for Joseph Smith and held influential leadership roles in the Church in Missouri. Whitmer was excommunicated from the Church in 1838 and lived in Missouri until his death in 1878.
BIODavid Whitmer
David Whitmer (1805–1888) was an early Latter-day Saint convert, leader, and one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. Whitmer and his family supported Joseph Smith in the translation of the Book of Mormon and the founding of the Church of Christ in 1830. Whitmer held various leadership positions in the Church until his excommunication in 1838. After his excommunication, Whitmer continued to live in Missouri and associated with various Latter-day Saint splinter groups, including one he started himself. In 1887 he published An Address to All Believers in Christ, by a Witness to the Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, detailing his religious convictions and personal history.
BIOJoseph Smith, Jr.
Joseph Smith (1805–1844) organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Born in Sharon, Vermont, he began to experience visions of deity and angels at a young age. One vision featured the Angel Moroni, who revealed the location of gold plates with an account of ancient Americans. He translated this record and published it as The Book of Mormon. He continued to receive revelations throughout his life which serve as the foundation for the Church's doctrine today. He led the Latter-day Saints across the country from New York to Illinois. In 1844, he was martyred while awaiting trial in Carthage, Illinois.
[1]↩︎
The earliest printed description of the plates came from Jonathan Hadley, a skeptical Palmyra newspaperman and printer. He wrote, "It was said that the leaves of the Bible were plates of gold, about eight inches long, six wide, and one eighth of an inch thick, on which were engraved characters or hieroglyphics."
Abner Cole (in 1831), the Catholic Telegraph (in 1827), John Corrill (in 1839), and Orson Hyde (in 1842) each reported similar dimensions and descriptions.
[2]↩︎
The Philadelphia Album printed an article and wrote:
Upon opening this, he found enclosed a bundle of plates similar to gold, about 7 inches long, 6 broad, and in all about 6 inches deep, each sheet being of about the thickness of tin.
- The Philadelphia Album reports that the plates were 7x6x6 and the sheets were the thickness of tin.
[3]↩︎
Obadiah Dogberry wrote a series of articles in the Palmyra newspaper, The Reflector, that were critical of Joseph Smith and the Church. He wrote that an informant described the plates: "the leaves were plates of metal of a whitish yellow color, and of the thickness of tin plate."
- Dogberry reports the weight of plates to be more than 20 lbs.
[4]↩︎
In court, Stowell testified that after handling the plates he "judge[d] [them] to have been about one foot square and six inches thick."
- Smith gives dimensions of the plates.
[5]↩︎
After John Corrill was excommunicated in 1839, he published A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints where he described the plates. He did not provide a source for his description, except to say "The simple story as related by others was this."
- Corrill recounts Joseph's description of the plates.
[6]↩︎
Pratt likely heard the description of the plates directly from Joseph prior to leaving on his mission.
- Pratt gives the dimensions of the plates as 7x8x6 inches.
[7]↩︎
Although not an "official" Book of Mormon witness, William Smith did report handling the plates when his brother Joseph brought them home from the Hill Cumorah.
In 1841, for example, a minister named James Murdock interviewed William. In this interview, William related the details of Joseph discovering the plates and informed Murdock that they "were eight or ten inches long, less in width, about the thickness of panes of glass; and together, made a pile about five or six inches high."
Decades later, William recounted a more direct experience with the plates, stating in a public sermon,
We [members of the Smith family] handled [the plates] 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.
- Smith reports dimensions of the plates to Murdock.
- Smith compared dimensions of plates to a large Bible.
[8]↩︎
The Times and Seasons originally published this description of the plates on March 1, 1842.
- Joseph gives dimensions of the plates and that they had the "appearance" of gold.
[9]↩︎
The 1842 book The City of the Mormons: or, Three Days at Nauvoo was critical of Mormonism, but it reported that Lucy had seen, handled, and described the plates.
- Lucy describes dimensions of the plates.
- Sally Bradford Parker recounts Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith bearing testimony of handling the plates.
[10]↩︎
In an 1859 interview, Harris described the plates as being "seven inches wide by eight inches in length, and were of the thickness of plates of tin; and when piled one above the other, they were altogether about four inches thick; and they were put together on the back by three silver rings, so that they would open like a book."
In another interview in 1870, Harris again described the dimensions of the plates as "about six inches wide, and nine or ten inches long. They were in the form of a book, half an inch thick, but were not bound at the back, like our books, but were held together by several gold rings, in such a way that the plates could be opened similar to a book."
- Harris says the plates were 7x8 inches.
- Lapham reports that Smith Sr. gave dimensions of plates at 6x9-10 inches.
[11]↩︎
John Whitmer gave multiple accounts of having handled the plates to inquirers, some of which also captured his description of the plates' dimensions.
For example, P. Wilhelm Poulson recorded an 1878 interview with Whitmer where the latter described the plates as being "8 by 6 or 7 inches."
[12]↩︎
In 1888, the Chicago Tribune reported on David Whitmer's death and included this description of the plates:
The treasure consisted of a number of golden plates about eight inches long, seven inches wide, and of the thickness of ordinary sheet tin. They were bound together in the shape of a book by three gold rings. A large portion of the leaves were so securely bound together that it was impossible to separate them, but upon the loose leaves were engraved hieroglyphics which were unintelligible to any person who had seen them.
Seven years before his death, Whitmer reported the dimensions of the plates as being "about six by nine inches in size, about as thick as parchment, a great many in number, and bound together like the leaves of a book by massive rings passing through the back edges."
- Whitmer describes the plates as being 8x7 inches.
- Whitmer gives dimensions of plates as 6x9 inches.
[13]↩︎
The Times and Seasons originally published this description of the plates on March 1, 1842. This article drew from Orson Pratt's 1840 missionary pamphlet.
Pratt likely heard the description of the plates directly from Joseph prior to leaving on his mission.
- Joseph gives dimensions of the plates and that they had the "appearance" of gold.
- Pratt gives the dimensions of the plates as 7x8x6 inches.
[14]↩︎
Outside of the dimensions, Joseph also described how the plates "were filled with engravings in Egyptian characters and bound together in a volume, as the leaves of a book with three rings running through the whole."
He also noted that they were "beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction and much skill in the art of engraving."
- Joseph gives dimensions of the plates and that they had the "appearance" of gold.
[15]↩︎
One of the earliest surviving descriptions of the weight of the plates estimated that they were "something more than 20 lbs."
Joseph Smith, according to one secondhand account, said they weighed sixty pounds. In 1859, Martin Harris said he thought the plates weighed "forty or fifty pounds." A decade later, Harris gave a similar estimate, saying the plates weighed "forty to sixty lbs."
William Smith, Joseph Smith's brother, also remembered the plates weighing about sixty pounds.
[16]↩︎
Catherine Smith Salisbury, Joseph Smith's sister, used this language to describe the weight of the plates to her grandchildren.
William Smith also once described the plates as being "much heavier than stone, and very much heavier than wood."
[17]↩︎
As far back as 1908, Church publications have talked about the problem of the plates being "pure gold" and their weight.
For example, in 2006 in the Church's magazine for youth, one writer observed:
Some historians believe the real golden plates were also made from an alloy that included gold. A block of solid gold the size of the golden plates would weigh about 200 pounds (90 kg), but the weight of the gold plates, as estimated by the few people who lifted them, was somewhere between 40 and 60 pounds (18 and 27 kg). An alloy of gold and another lighter metal and the air pockets between the plates could account for this difference in weight, say some historians.
[18]↩︎
When identifying the plates in 1 Nephi 9:2–4 and Words of Mormon 1:1–3, 6, 10, the Book of Mormon simply calls them "plates" or "other plates."
[19]↩︎
Nephi writes that the Lord commanded him to "make plates of ore" in 1 Nephi 19:1 and Mormon 8:5 echoes that this material was used.
[20]↩︎
The testimony of the Eight Witnesses, printed with the Book of Mormon, uses this language. So do Orson Pratt's, William Smith's, Orson Hyde's, and Joseph Smith's descriptions from the early 1840s.
[21]↩︎
Joseph Smith also referred to them as "plates of gold" and "gold plates" a few times.
[22]↩︎
William Smith, for example, described the plates as being "a mixture of gold and copper."
Josiah Stowell also testified in court that when he caught a glimpse of the plates, a corner of the stack "resembled a stone of a greenish caste" which suggests oxidation. This is impossible with pure gold but common with copper-gold alloy.
- Smith recounts when JS first brought the plates home.
- Smith gives dimensions of the plates.
[23]↩︎
This theory was first suggested by metallurgist Read H. Putnam in 1966 and has since been picked up and developed by more recent scholars such as Robert F. Smith.
[24]↩︎
Studies done on the plausibility of tumbaga plates show that the dimensions would have been consistent.
Scholars researched the type of metal that was found in the relevant geographic areas and saw that tumbaga mostly matched the description.
[25]↩︎
Several letters discussed the financial situation of the Smith family, noting they were poor and living in a house with only one room.
[26]↩︎
According to his 1832 history, Joseph was "tempted of the advisary and saught the Plates to obtain riches."
- Joseph says he was tempted by the monetary value of the plates.
[27]↩︎
Researchers have applied different estimated variables in dimensions and material compositions and are able to arrive at a weight of approximately 50 lbs which is consistent with the historial reports.
[28]↩︎
According to Lucy's account, the endeavor was physically exhausting, since upon arriving home Joseph "was still altogether speechless from fright and the fatigue of running."
- Lucy Mack Smith recounts Joseph running with the plates.
[29]↩︎
The Philmont Scout Ranch, a Boy Scouts of America’s high adventure base, hosts scout treks that involve "hiking with a 35 to 50-pound backpack at elevations of 6,500 to 12,500 feet."
- The health requirements for the Philmont trek, affiliated with the BSA.
[30]↩︎
In 2011 NPR reported that US soldiers and marines in Iraq and Afghanistan routinely carried loads of between 60 and 100 pounds of gear.
Army Specialist Joseph Chroniger, who carried 70 to 80 pounds of gear, said "We were doing three, four, five missions a night sometimes. You're jumping out. You're running."
- Murphy reports soldiers run with 60-100 pound packs.