Reformed Egyptian - The "Anthon Transcript"

The "Anthon Transcript"

The "Anthon Transcript" (also known as the "Caractors" document) is a small piece of paper on which Joseph Smith, Jr. is said to have transcribed reformed Egyptian characters from the golden plates (the ancient record from which Smith claimed to have translated the Book of Mormon). Smith said that when this sample was presented by Smith's colleague Martin Harris to Columbia College professor Charles Anthon, a noted classical scholar, that Anthon had attested to the characters' authenticity in writing but had then ripped up his certification after hearing that the plates had been revealed by an angel. Anthon wrote, to the contrary, that he had believed from the first that Harris was the victim of fraud.