Coffins and Caskets

Why did people start using burial containers?

Afterlife beliefs, culture, circumstances, and financial status

Kofinos

greek for basket

The french traslated ‘kofinos’ as…

coffin

Coffins

originally made from wood, 6 or 8 sided

casket

metal or wood, ornamented, lined with fabric. word may have come from ‘iron caskets’ used for jewelry

Who developed coffins?

Furnishing undertakers, also developed chairs, drapes, rugs.

What is cerecloth?

a waxed cloth used by New England, Virginia, and the Dutch used to wrap their dead

What goals did manufactures have with later coffins?

Showing status, preserving the body, protection from grave robbers, utility, aesthetic

Stone or marble and hydraulic cement

John White, 1835

Metallic coffins

James Gray, 1836

Fisk Coffin

airtight, form fitted, cast or raised metal.

Who introduced mass producing coffins?

Crane and Breed.