Time capsule buried by Paul Revere and Samuel Adams unearthed in Boston

A time capsule buried by Paul Revere and Samuel Adams in 1795 was extracted Thursday after hours of chipping away at a stone block.

The copper container was the size of a cigar box and green from oxidation, The Boston Globe reports, and was inside the cornerstone of the Massachusetts Statehouse. The capsule is thought to be the oldest such artifact found in the United States, and was removed once before, in 1855, when the building had to undergo emergency repairs. It was placed in the cornerstone when it was reset.

After the capsule was unearthed this time, it was taken to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, accompanied by a police escort. While some coins that were thrown into the plaster for good luck fell out during the removal, no one is quite sure what's inside the container, and the museum plans to X-ray the capsule over the weekend.

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