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Crews Extract 1795 Time Capsule From State House

BOSTON (CBS) -- A more than 200-year-old time capsule was extracted from the Massachusetts State House Thursday afternoon.

There's work being done at the State House on an ongoing water problem and in the interest of safety, officials decided to extract a time capsule that was first buried by then-governor Sam Adams and Paul Revere in 1795.

The time capsule was taken by a state police escort to the Museum Of Fine Arts to be X-rayed.

Time Capsule
The 1795 time capsule removed from the State House in Dec. 2014. (WBZ-TV)

"We know what is supposed to be in it, we don't know in fact if it's still in good condition because of the container whether there was any damage done," Secretary of State and Chairman of the state's Historical Commission Bill Galvin said.

The capsule is supposed to contain a collection of old coins, an engraved silver plate, newspapers and other materials.

It will likely be returned to the statehouse after a new container is created and the construction proceeds, probably sometime early next year, Galvin said.

In October, a time capsule from 1901 inside a lion statue at the Old State House was opened.

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