"THE HISTORY OF A NEPHITE COIN"

A Personal Experience of Elder Richard M. Robinson of Grantsville, Utah.

It was my privilege to fulfill a mission to the Southern States in the years 1897-99.

While laboring in Florida I was appointed to the Presidency of the Florida Conference, and consequently traveled quite extensively among the Elders and Saints of the Conference. It was my oppertunity towards the close of my mission, about Sept 22, 1899, to cross the St Mary's River that separates the states of Florida and Georgia, and to visit a Brother Carleton who at the time was a faithful member of the church; living on the banks of the St. Mary's River.

My companion and I arrived in the town of neighbourhood of Bro. Carleton's on the 22 day of September 1899. We held a meeting in the town that evening and after the meeting Brother Carleton came up to us and requested that we stay that night with him. After consultation with my companion, we consented to go, and as was our custom, we sat far into the night and conversed with him on the principles of the gospel.

The next morning ^(Sept 23, 1899.^ Brother Carleton came out of his room with a coin in his hand and told me that he had plowed it up in his field on the banks of the St. Mary's River. He also told me that he had felt impressed during the night to give the coin to me although he had refused the Elder who had baptized him.

I looked at the coin as he handed it to me and I thought that I knew what it was, as I had seen a picture of Nephite coins on the fly leaf of the old editions of the Book of Mormon. The coin bore a striking resemblance to those coins.

I Then said to Brother Carleton, "Brother Carleton, this coin is valuable! You surely don't want to give it to me?"

He replied, "I don't care if it is worth ten thousand dollars 6-- I was told in the night to give it to you."

Knowing the value of the coin, I was afraid I might lose it, so I lifted the ling in the corner of my grip and pushed the coin under and then fastened the lining back in place, I carried it thus throughout the remaining three months of my mission.

On my way home, after my release, I called at Chattanooga, Tennessee to report my mission to President Ben E. Rich. After reporting my mission I reached down into my grip, worked the coin out and dropped it on the table in front of him without saying anything. President Rich placed both of his hands over the coin and said:

"Oh! what a gem for the church! Elder Robinson, where did you get that?"

I told him that I had obtained it from Brother Carleton on the St. Mary's River.

"What are you going to do with it, Elder Robinson?"

I told him that I had made up my mind to take it to the First Presidency of the Church.

"Brother Robinson -- You go and give that coin to President Snow, for that is where it belongs!" "Now Brother Robinson, you will be tried on the way home, but don't you sell that coin!"

On the way home between Pueblo, Colorado and Salt Lake City, the first morning out, there was on the train an historian and writer from England by the name of Willis. I happened to set down by him and got into conversation with him on the gospel and he became deeply interested. I sold him a copy of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price and gave him a tract. I then showed him the coin and told him what it was.

"Oh What will you take for that coin?", said Mr. Willis.

"It is not for sale," I replied.

He then said to me, "Here is my card, If you change your mind I will just take an impression on wax, not ask you for the coin, you name your bank in Salt Lake City and I will place Seven thousand dollars ($7,000) in the bank to your credit. You just leave the coin there and get your money."

I thanked him for his interest but repeated that the coin was not for sale.

When I arrived home I showed the coin to the Bishopric of the Grantsville Ward and to my friends. I stayed home about two weeks, having arrived on December 24, 1899, and then my wife and I went to Salt Lake City to report my mission.

In the office of the First Presidency there were President Lorenzo Snow, President Joseph F. Smith, President Francis M. Lyman and ____________________. After reporting my mission, I took the coin out and showed it to them. President Lyman went and got the old edition (probably the first edition) of the Book of Mormon in which pictures of nephite coins were printed, and found the same coin immediately.

Description of the Nephite Coin

The Egyptian characters were identically the same as those on one of the pictures in the Book Mormon. The coin had not tarnished and the characters looked as if they had been stamped. The coin was about the size of a five-dollar Gold piece, eight-cornered and about as thick as common tin. It was stamped on both sides, the characters running around the outside. The characters were small, somewhat like script or cursive writing, more like the hieratic than the hieroglyphic form. As I have said before, they were identical with the characters pictured on the Nephite coin in the old edition of the Book of Mormon.

I was asked what I intended doing with the coin and I turned to President Snow and told him that I was making him a present of the coin; that President Rich had told me that that was the proper thing to do and that I was following his instructions.

President Snow put his ^his arm around my should and said, "Brother Robinson, you have been faithful and have kept the pledge".

He then went and got the money purse or leather bag that President Brigham Young had brought to the Rocky Mountains with him, also the Seer Stone and said, "This is the Seer Stone that the Prophet Joseph Smith used. There are very few worthy to view this, but you are." He handed the Seer Stone to me and I couldn't express the joy that came to me as I took that stone in my hands. Words are not equal to the task of expressing such a sublime joy. He then told me to hand the Seer Stone to my wife and I handed it to her. He then blessed us with the greatest blessing I have ever heard fall from the mouth of man.

Description of the Seer Stone

The Seer Stone was the shape of an egg though not quite so large, of a gray cast something like granite but with white stripes running around it. It was transparent but had no holes, neither in the end or in the sides. I looked into the stone, but could see nothing, as I had not the gift and power of God that must accompany such a manifestation.

My Testimony

My financial conditions when I returned home were very bad. I had no horses, no cows, everything I owned had gone for my mission. We had nothing with which to start life anew, but if there is one thing more than anything else in which I have cause to rejoice it is because I did not sell that coin! I have never suffered for anything as a result of being faithful to that trust. President Snow blessed us that day the first week in January 1900 and to this day, his promise that we should never suffer for bread has been valid. I have never been happier in my life than when I have been serving the Lord. I felt that I had no more right to sell the coin than the Prophet Joseph Smith would have had to sell the Gold Plates."