The Quincy Whig was probably jesting when they reported, under the heading "Material for another Book of Mormon" in 1843 that in the neighboring village of Kinderhook, in Pike County, a man had found six brass plates fixed together with wiring. The Nauvoo Times & Seasons carried the article, Vol IV, No 12, Wednesday May 1 1843, here p.187.
Since the finder, a Robert Wiley, was known to be a respectable merchant, the editors used the opportunity to show that treasure digging was not a disreputable activity that only Joseph Smith Jr pursued (p.186).
Whether Joseph Smith Jr ever got a chance to try his chops on the hieroglyphs as the editor hoped is unclear.
Updated March 2015: In January 1844, the Nauvoo Neighbor was selling facsimile [their word!] of the plates found at Kinderhook; cf. Nauvoo Neighbor, January 3, 1844, page 3, column 4.
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