Berkeley, California - Drake's Plate Of Brass: Former Fraud On Display
- Address:
- Berkeley, CA [Show Map]
- Directions:
- Bancroft Library, University of California
- Phone:
- 510-642-3781
Visitor Tips and News About Drake's Plate Of Brass: Former Fraud On Display
Following are Drake's Plate Of Brass: Former Fraud On Display reports and tips that were sent in by RoadsideAmerica.com visitors like you, as well as news stories about the attraction. Submit your own tip or update. Some tips may not be verified -- please contact attraction for current hours and admission prices.
After the Plate was found in 1933 -- then thrown away and found again in 1936 -- historians questioned its wording, spelling, and manufacture. The hoax’s perpetrators even tried to tip off its discoverer's to its phony origins. But an early metallurgical study mistakenly concluded that it was genuine, and most of the experts obediently fell silent. It wasn't until the late 1970s, after a new round of physical and chemical tests, that scientists determined that the plate was a modern forgery. And it wasn't until 2003 that the Plate was found to be a practical-joke-gone-awry by local historians, intended to fool the gullible director of the Bancroft Library.
The Library is currently closed for repairs, but it vows to prominently display the Plate when it re-opens in the summer of 2008. [RoadsideAmerica.com Team, 04/27/2007]
Nearby Offbeat Places
- Miniature Railroad WWII monument, Berkeley, CA - 2 mi.
- Children's Fairyland, Oakland, CA - 4 mi.
- Playland Not At The Beach, El Cerrito, CA - 4 mi.
- World's Biggest Rubber Band Ball, San Francisco, CA - 12 mi.
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