What was the approximate weight of Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell when it was cast?

Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell weighs approximately 2,080 pounds.

The bell was commissioned in 1751 by Pennsylvania’s colonial assembly for the Pennsylvania State House, now called Independence Hall. London’s Lester and Pack foundry cast it, and the bell arrived in Philadelphia in 1752.

The bell cracked during its early testing and was recast twice by Philadelphia founders John Pass and John Stow. Their names and the year 1753 appear on the bell. Its inscription comes from Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof.”

The bell became a national symbol of independence only later. It was probably among the bells rung in Philadelphia when the Declaration was first read publicly on July 8, 1776, but no contemporary account proves that it rang on that occasion. The name “Liberty Bell” became common through nineteenth-century abolitionist use.