helix

Put me down as very skeptical as well. History has a long track record of other "ancient" metal plates with dubious backgrounds catching the eye of Latter-day Saints. From the prior thread: Two immediate examples that come to mind: The Padilla plates from the 1950s, which still got traction decades later [source]. Also, the Etruscan Gold Book purportedly from 600 BC, and even got an article on the BBC [source]. On this latter one, I was made party to an email discussion with other academics who were able to very quickly demonstrate red flags of obvious fraud, meaning the book had things in it which were clearly anachronistic.

Ya, almost certainly waiting until it's officially filed. News via rumors can get real ugly real fast. Also can put the news organization in ugly legal footing. If the alternative is to wait a day or two for the facts to get officially laid out by the government, then that's the professional course of action.