Many LDS
scholars believe that the golden plates were an alloy of gold and copper which
was common in Mesoamerica (“Tumbaga”). Some of the descriptions of the plates
supports this view, including how the plates were said to have some “green”
thereon, consistent with Tumbaga. In his excellent essay, Empirical
Witnesses of the Gold Plates, Larry Morris wrote the following on pp. 65-66
when discussing Josiah Stowell’s description of the plates (emphasis added):
A Colesville, New York court record sheds
further light on Stowell’s experience with the plates. On June 30, 1830,
Stowell testified in a case in which Joseph was accused of “a breach of the
peace . . . by looking through a certain stone to find hid[den] treasures.”
After being sworn before Justice of the Peace Joel K. Noble, Stowell said “that
about two years since, witness was at Palmyra, and saw prisoner; that prisoner
told witness that the Lord had told prisoner that a golden Bible was in a
certain hill; that Smith, the prisoner, went in the night, and brought the
Bible, (as Smith said;) witness [Stowell] saw a corner of it; it resembled a
stone of a greenish caste; should judge it to have been about one foot square
and six inches thick; he would not let it be seen by any one; the Lord had
commanded him not; it was unknown to Smith, that the witness saw a corner of
the Bible, so called by Smith.”18 These two statements indicate that when
Joseph reached the house, he handed the frock-covered plates to Stowell, who
apparently caught a glimpse of them as he set them down, making Stowell the
only witness to see the plates “by accident.” As for the color of the plates,
Ann Taves writes, “A greenish cast would suggest copper rather than lead or
gold and pages could be made out of copper more easily than lead.”19
Notes
for the above:
18. “Mormonism,” Morning Star (Limerick,
Maine), Nov. 16, 1832, available at http://
contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/BOMP/id/1369/rec/16.
19. Ann Taves, “History and the Claims of Revelation:
Joseph Smith and the Materialization of the Golden Plates,” Numen 61, nos. 1–2
(2014): 192n13. Copper turns green when exposed to the elements, also true of
bronze (an alloy of copper and zinc), brass (an alloy of copper and tin), and
some types of tumbaga (an unspecified alloy of gold and copper).
FairMormon Wiki, Question: Of what material were the Book of Mormon "gold" plates constructed?
