Mormons, how heavy were the Gold Plates? Did Joseph Smith carry them or did he have a wheelbarrow?

Question

I know the size. I asked how heavy. Do YOU know? Or are you afraid to ask?

Answer 1

I hate to respond with another question, but has anyone ever tried to write on a beaten sheet metallic surface with a pointy stick? Don't make any mistakes, and each mark is 'interpretative' to the point of being several paragraphs that even when translated by god's reading glasses (which weren't used), are still subject to scrutiny over interpretation?

Does anyone have any idea what type of technology is required to make a regularly shaped sheet metal object of gold? This isn't a popout 'made in China' thing, this was apparently created by a young child who is also credited with building a smaller version of King Solomon's temple, roads, armor, weapons, etc.- Nephi as DiVinci?

One more thing: Were these plates engraved to the point where the impressions were raised on the backside, or did Nephi (and the rest) make 'etchings' on the surface so they could use the other side of the sheet? - Then Moroni finished the 'volume' under pretty austere conditions..

If they used the former, there would be an airspace between pages, and the total weight would still be 60-80 lbs. Flat plates would have very little airspace and could easily weigh more than twice that: 200+ lbs.

But since Smith never figured this out either, the answer is 'No - they never existed"

Answer 2

I haven't analized the site, but it seems to be an excellent source for you.

"weighing altogether from forty to sixty lbs."4 —Martin Harris
"I was permitted to lift them. . . . They weighed about sixty pounds according to the best of my judgement."5 —William Smith
"I . . . judged them to have weighed about sixty pounds."6 —William Smith
"They were much heavier than a stone, and very much heavier than wood. . . . As near as I could tell, about sixty pounds."7 —William Smith
"I hefted the plates, and I knew from the heft that they were lead or gold."8 —Martin Harris
"My daughter said, they were about as much as she could lift. They were now in the glass-box, and my wife said they were very heavy. They both lifted them."9 —Martin Harris
"I moved them from place to place on the table, as it was necessary in doing my work."10 —Emma Smith
Joseph's sister Catherine, while she was dusting in the room where he had been translating, "hefted those plates [which were covered with a cloth] and found them very heavy."11 —H. S. Salisbury, paraphrasing Catherine Smith Salisbury

Answer 3

Joseph Smith was a counterfeiter, a treasure hunter, and a con-man prior to becoming so exulted and ruling the new church with prophetic visions and magical glasses.

My guess is that if there were tablets at all they were physically created by Smith himself.

Answer 4

If you would read the Book of Mormon, like you say you have and like to do, it tells you the size of the plates...

The people who held them, alothough not in the Book of Mormon, that had held them said they weighed between 40 and 60 pounds.

Answer 5

I don’t know, but for all the nonsense that is supposedly written in them, I would have to say it is definitely not worth its weight in gold.

Answer 6

I read somewhere that several people who lifted them said they weighed about 40 to 60 pounds.

Answer 7

They are just as heavy as the mormon religion.

Answer 8

I bet they are locked up in Fort Knox!


Blessed Be!

Answer 9

They were imaginary so who knows......but his own personal gold from the story was very heavy.

Answer 10

Dude, how tall was Abraham Lincoln, did he wear shoes or prefer to go bare foot?

Like it matters it wouldn't change your mind even if I told you.