In May 1843, six engraved bell-shaped brass
plates, were brought to Nauvoo
by people wanting see if Joseph Smith would translate them.
Decades later, however,
one of the men involved in digging up what are now known as the Kinderhook Plates
confessed that they were a forgery,
perpetrated with the intent of fooling Joseph Smith.
Modern scientific testing confirms that they
were created using 19th century methods.
So did Joseph fall for the hoax?
Not quite.
He briefly gave these artifacts due consideration,
but ultimately, did not try to acquire them, retain them, or find them of any value.
When the plates were first brought to Joseph,
rather than utilize any revelatory tools such as prayer or a seer stone
Joseph sent “for [his] Hebrew Bible & Lexicon.”
An eyewitness remembered him comparing the
characters on the plates with “his Egyptian alphabet,”
and another said they were being
compared to the Joseph’s Egyptian papyri.
In other words,
Joseph took preliminary steps
toward an ordinary translation
by comparing the squiggles on these plates to other ancient writings he was familiar with.
This apparently produced no findings of any
significance.
If he ever sought out a revelatory translation,
he evidently never received or claimed to have received one.
Despite all the anticipation for a full translation,
nothing ever came.
The historical evidence suggests that Joseph
Smith ultimately did not fall for the hoax—
he never tried to purchase the plates,
hire scribes,
and go into translation mode, as he did with the ancient Egyptian papyri
or the Book of Mormon plates.
And now you know why.
