Engravings on and sealed portion of the gold plates
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Engravings on and sealed portion of the gold plates


Question: What were the characteristics of the sealed vs. unsealed portion of the gold plates?

A portion of the plates were somehow bound together

  • "A large portion of the leaves were so securely bound together that it was impossible to separate them."[1] —David Whitmer
  • "What there was sealed appeared as solid to my view as wood. About the half of the book was sealed."[2] —David Whitmer
  • "they thus translated about two thirds of what the plates contained, reserving the residue for a future day as the Lord might hereafter direct." - Critical newspaper [3]
  • "the leaves were divided equidistant between the back and the edge, by cutting the plates in two parts, and again united with solder, so that the front might be opened, while the back part remained stationary and immovable, and was consequently a sealed book, which would not be revealed for ages to come, and which Smith himself was not permitted to understand." - Citing David Whitmer[4]
  • "some of them are sealed together and are not to be opened, and some of them are loose" - Lucy Mack Smith (allegedly)[5]
  • "a part of which was sealed. The unsealed part has been translated; and contains the Book of Mormon"[6]


Question: What was the appearance of the engravings on the gold plates?

There were small, fine engravings on both sides of each plate

  • "[The plates] were filled with . . . Egyptian characters. . . . The characters on the unsealed part were small, and beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction and much skill in the art of engraving."[7] —Joseph Smith Jr.
  • "There were fine engravings on both sides."[8] —John Whitmer
  • "We also saw the engravings thereon, all of which has the appearance of ancient work, and of curious workmanship."[9] —Eight Witnesses
  • "[T]he characters . . . were cut into the plates with some sharp instrument."[10] —William Smith
  • "On opening that part of the book which was not secured by seals, he discovered inscribed on the aforesaid plates, divers and wonderful characters, some large and some small" - Citing David Whitmer [11]
  • "These were filled with engravings on both sides" - Parley P. Pratt [12]
  • "are covered with letters beautifully engraved" - Lucy Mack Smith (allegedly) [13]
  • "on each side beautifully engraved, and filled with black cement"[14]
  1. ↑ David Whitmer interview, Chicago Tribune, 24 January 1888, in David Whitmer Interviews, ed. Cook, 221.
  2. ↑ David Whitmer interview, Deseret Evening News, 16 August 1878, in David Whitmer Interviews, ed. Cook, 20–21.
  3. ↑ “The Orators of Mormon,” Catholic Telegraph (Cincinnati, Ohio) 1 (14 April 1832): 204–5. Reprinted from Mercer Press (Pennsylvania), circa April 1832. off-site
  4. ↑ ED Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 15; attributed to David Whitmer off-site
  5. ↑ Henry Caswall, The City of the Mormons; or, Three Days at Nauvoo, in 1842, 2nd ed. revised and enlarged, (London: J. G. F. & J. Rivington, 1843), 26. off-site
  6. ↑ W. I. Appleby, A Dissertation of Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream... (Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking & Guilbert, 1844), 1–24. Full title
  7. ↑ Joseph Smith Jr., "Church History" (Wentworth Letter)
  8. ↑ John Whitmer to Theodore Turley, "in the presence of his anti-Mormon friends." As reported in Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1981), 131. ISBN 0877478465.
  9. ↑ "Testimony of the Eight Witnesses."
  10. ↑ William Smith interview, The Saints' Herald, 4 October 1884, 644.
  11. ↑ ED Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 15; attributed to David Whitmer off-site
  12. ↑ Parley P. Pratt, "Discovery of an Ancient Record in America," Millennial Star 1 no. 2 (June 1840), 30–37. off-site
  13. ↑ Henry Caswall, The City of the Mormons; or, Three Days at Nauvoo, in 1842, 2nd ed. revised and enlarged, (London: J. G. F. & J. Rivington, 1843), 26. off-site
  14. ↑ W. I. Appleby, A Dissertation of Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream... (Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking & Guilbert, 1844), 1–24. Full title
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