Caskets and the Casket Industry

The term casket, sometimes denoted as coffin, refers to the container in which the dead are placed for burial. In the earliest times of humankind, simply wrapping the deceased and placing in a cave or burying in a shallow grave was considered sufficient. But as cultural rituals became more prominent, it became common to produce burial enclosures out of woven reeds, pieces of wood, pottery, or stone. The status of the family was important, as the costs and handling increased with the more elaborate designs and materials. Even simple burial vessels could be augmented with personal belongings of the deceased wrapped in cloth or put into small pottery; these belongings were considered a necessity for the soul of the deceased to carry to the spiritual world. As the use of wood and pottery became common, designs of faces, flowers, and earthly material holdings became a part of the ceremony prior to burial. Over time, improved technologies enhanced the craftsmanship involved in casket building and these provide the backdrop for the discussion in this entry.

The Art of Casket Making

The stone coffins were the most difficult and required stone masons/carvers to cut and decorate as desired. Moving and setting stone enclosures required teams of people and equipment to set in the burial site. Many early customs required that the body be “free to the sky” so the spirit could travel to its next destination. Even funeral pyres and cremation platforms included some kind of ceremonial wrap of the deceased and accompanying artifacts of the person's life.

Burial vessels were crafted and manufactured by hand until the 1900s when assembly lines began to be utilized by the larger manufacturers of caskets. Even the early lead, steel, and hardwood caskets were handmade products that could easily be custom fitted with colors, materials, and décor chosen by the family. The earliest wooden coffins were usually simple, and the church would provide various covers for them prior to burial for a more elaborate ceremony of the loved one's life. These mortuary cloths could provide religious symbols, colors, and habits of the deceased for the celebration, then be removed upon placing the coffin into the grave.

The early wood coffins were larger at the top to accommodate the shoulders and small at the bottom foot end. Some had windows above the head, so the deceased was viewable during the ritual showing prior to burial. At the beginning of the 19th century, this design became rectangular, which was easier to manufacture, as mass production became common. As the eight-sided coffins became less common and the six-sided caskets were in demand, the assembly line mass production process became more common.

It was in the mid-1800s that the first casketed steel casket was offered, but materials of the time made it difficult to use. Later, sealing materials and fasteners made the gasketed caskets more common. The seal on the casket was offered to stop elements of earth and moisture from entering the interior of the casket, while allowing the gases of decomposition to escape. As with the early pottery or stone enclosures, when metals became common in the manufacture of caskets, the status of the deceased could dictate the type of metal utilized, from copper and bronze with gold trim to the reduced costs of simple 20-gauge units with single colors. Social status has been tied to burial containers since the beginning of their use.

...