the facsimilie located in the pearl of great price....
 

was it a partially destroyed parchment and joseph filled in the blanks?

how did he translate the p of g?

let me get this straight on the translation of the bom.

a. he uses the u and t.

b. they are taken away.

c. he uses a seer stone he found in a well.

d. he places the seer stone in a hat and the words appear to him on the stone?

after losing the u and t was the presence of the plates even necessary?

The presence of the plates was ...
 

... NEVER necessary, and rarely ever was even present. The old drawings of Joseph pouring over the plates with Martin Harris on the other side of a sheet strung up between them is an anacronism.