Voree Plates - Appearance and Dimensions

Appearance and Dimensions

The Voree plates measured approximately 2.5 inches long, and between 1.25 and 1.5 inches wide. According to one anonymous witness, these plates were "about the thickness of a piece of tin, fastened together in one corner by a ring passing through them." A second viewer described them as being "thickly covered with ancient characters of curious workmanship." Stephen Post, the brother of Strangite Apostle Warren Post, visited Strang in 1850 and examined the plates for himself, noting that "they were not polished very smooth before engraving, by appearance."

Unlike his brother, Stephen Post had trouble believing Strang's account of the plates' origin and discovery: "With all the faith & confidence that I could exercise," he later wrote, "all that I could realize was that Strang made the plates himself, or at least that it was possible that he made them." Post equally observed that the brass used in the Voree Plates seemed indistinguishable to him from the French brass used in ordinary tea kettles.

Four of the six sides of the Voree plates contained text written in an unknown script. Side five contained a map showing the area where the plates were found, while side one contained engravings of the "all-seeing eye" and a man holding a scepter, with the sun, moon and stars beneath him. These images were said to represent God, the President of the church, his two Counselors, the High Council of the Church, the Apostles, and the Seventies.