LDS Freedom Forum

The Prophet Joseph's sister Katharine had a similar experience as Emma Smith did with the Book of Mormon Plates. See Emma's experience in the last paragraph of his post. Thanks to Kyle R. Walker for the commentary, all quotes references will be found using link below.
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...The fourteen-year-old sister hurriedly took the plates and laid them on a nearby table and then assisted her injured brother(Joseph).

Katharine relating an instance when Joseph was chased by a mob while he had the plates in his possession.Hancock recounted: “Hearing an unusual commotion outside Catherine flew to the door and threw it open just as Joseph came rushing up, panting for breath. He thrust a bundle into her arms, and in a gasping voice whispered hoarsely, ‘Take these quickly and hide them,’ then he disappeared into the darkness. Closing the door Catherine ran hurriedly to the bedroom where she and Sophronia slept. Sophronia threw back the bedding and Catherine put the bundle on the bed, quickly replacing the bedding. Both of them lay down on the bed and pretended sleep. The mob, failing to find Joseph outside, returned to the house to search, but they did not disturb the girls since they appeared to be sleeping.”

Katharine felt confident enough in one playmate, Caroline Rockwell, to confide in her the reality of the circulating rumors regarding the plates. She showed Caroline the locked chest where the plates were kept and revealed to her a place where the plates had been hidden.

Katharine received further solace in knowing of the reality of the existence of the plates. For her, there was no question of the truthfulness of her brother’s claims. Although she would be disappointed in not being allowed to view the uncovered plates as anticipated, her convictions were strengthened by being able to heft them on at least three different occasions.20Katharine’s grandson, Herbert S. Salisbury, remembered his grandmother telling of one such instance: “[Katharine] told me that while dusting up the room where the Prophet had his study she saw a package on the table containing the gold plates on which was engraved the story of the Book of Mormon. She said she hefted those plates and found them very heavy like gold and also rippled her fingers up the edge of the plates and felt that they were separate metal plates and heard the tinkle of sound that they made.http://mormonhistoricsites.org/wp-conte ... isbury.pdf

"The plates often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen tablecloth, which I had given him to fold them in. I once felt of the plates, as they thus lay on the table, tracing their outline and shape. They seemed to be pliable like thick paper, and would rustle with a metallic sound when the edges were moved by the thumb, as one does sometimes thumb the edges of a book." Emma Smith - Last Testimony of Emma Smith 1879 Q&A between Emma and Joseph Smith III, The Saints' Herald 26 (Oct 1879)

I've always said that the "gold" plates could not have been pure gold. This story bears this out. His sister could not have lifted the plates. Some of the descriptions of the size of the plates were 8" high, 6" wide, and 6" deep. I did some checking online and found that a hunk of gold that size would weigh close to 200 pounds. They were gold combined with another metal, most likely copper since it is soft and would keep a golden color, but it would still be fairly heavy.

I'm not convinced they were gold. Apparently they "had the appearance of gold" but that is not the same thing.

Robin Hood wrote: ↑October 12th, 2019, 1:30 am I'm not convinced they were gold. Apparently they "had the appearance of gold" but that is not the same thing.

That's why they are called "Golden Plates" and not Gold Plates. Many people make the error to call them Gold Plates.

This is fascinating as well. “On the morning of September 22, after Joseph had returned from the hill, he placed the article [the Nephite interpreters] of which he spoke into my hands, and, upon examination, I found that it consisted of two smooth three-cornered diamonds set in glass, and the glasses were set in silver bows which were connected with each other in much the same way as old fashioned spectacles. . . . He [Joseph Smith] handed me the breastplate spoken of in his history. It was wrapped in a thin muslin handkerchief, so thin that I could feel its proportions without any difficulty. It was wrapped in a thin muslin handkerchief; so thin that I could see the glistening metal, and ascertain its proportions without any difficulty: It was concave on one side and convex on the other, and extended from the neck downwards, as far as the center of the stomach of a man of extraordinary size. It had four straps of the same material, for the purpose of fastening it to the breast."
History of Joseph Smith by His Mother Lucy Mack Smith

Most members know of Mother Smith’s in-depth biography of Joseph Smith. What they may not know is that she dictated it mere months after the deaths of Joseph, Hyrum, and Samuel. She found comfort in her grief by finally putting these events on paper. Regarding the project, she wrote, “I have told over many things pertaining to these matters to different persons . . . [and] indeed have almost destroyed my lungs.”[14] Her way of emphasizing how she had testified to so many, lol.
.https://bookofmormoncentral.org/blog/5- ... den-plates