“We have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian.” — Mormon 9:32
A few months after Joseph and Emma moved in with Emma's family, Martin Harris came by and said he felt called to consult with expert scholars in ancient language about the translations. Joseph copied some of the characters from the gold plates and gave them to Harris, who took the paper to New York City. There, he met with Charles Anthon, a professor of Latin and Greek at Columbia College.2
Anthon originally verified the characters, seeing similarities with Egyptian.2 This matched what Joseph would later translate in Moroni 9:32, which called the writing "reformed Egyptian."1 But when Harris revealed the angelic origin of the plates, Anthon rescinded the approval and, according to Martin, tore up the authentification statement. Anthon denied authenticating the characters in later statements.3
It's unclear if the sheet of characters that Harris took to New York still exists. David Whitmer has claimed that a document known as the "Caractors Document" was this original sheet of characters. However, the scribe for at least the title seems to be John Whitmer, who didn't meet Joseph until more than a year after Harris's encounter with Anthon.4
