When I was growing up I always had a fascination with caskets. I’m sure it is because I associated them with my dad/hero and visiting him at the funeral home. However, I was never allowed to touch them….who wants to buy a casket with some 6 year old’s fingerprints on it anyways? I think that I was around 14 years old when my day of graduation came. I can even remember the smell of the casket room at Wood Funeral Home as my dad showed my how to properly prepare a casket for showing. First, fold the out the edge material making sure there are no unwanted wrinkles. Next, place the pillow at a slight angle to help the casket look comfortable. Next, place the overlay on the closed half of the casket and line up that material with the edge material evenly. Finally, raise the bed of the casket so that it doesn’t look like a bottomless pit (yes, most casket beds raise and lower by crank). The lesson learned that day was not that paying attention to the details would help sell the casket, but instead that the families we serve deserve to have every detail paid attention to. I still couldn’t legally drive a car and I hadn’t kissed a girl, but at that point I started to became a man…..more or less.
With that in mind I present to you my second favorite casket of all-time….The Promethean Bronze by Batesville. You will probably hear me refer to Batesville often as they are the biggest (and best) manufacturer of caskets in the nation. The Promethean is the epitome of excellence in a metal casket. The casket it built of 48oz Bronze. As a semi-precious metal, bronze is rust-resistant and the most expensive of the casket metals. The bronze is then plated with 24k gold. Awesome. The finish is hand polished and very very shiny. The interior of the casket will come just about any way that you order it. As I recall, this is one of the few caskets that is made totally by hand and by order at the Batesville plant. Expect to pay at least $20,000 for this unit of excellence. Now you ask, does anyone really need a gold-plated bronze casket? Of course not, but it sure is pretty.
The pictures are a couple of stock photos I was able to find. The most recent notable I know of that was buried in the Promethean Bronze was James Brown. The photo I chose doesn’t show the “Godfather of Soul” in it, but for those interested, just google “James Brown Casket” and look at the images (by the by, the mortician did an excellent job).
Very interesting! I had a question, does it cost the family extra to have the mortuary keep the body for a couple of weeks before the funeral, like if they need to wait for other family to arrive? I hope that this is appropriate to post this type of question on your site? Thanks John!
That’s a good question. I am glad to answer it, but can only do so generally and from my experience only (basically, I can only speak for my specific funeral home). Funeral homes do not generally charge for holding the body until the funeral. That is usually included in the Basic Professional Service fee. The exception to that is if the body needs to be in a refrigeration unit until then. There are various reasons why a body would need to be in a cooling unit, but that is a whole other discussion. In cases of long periods of refrigeration then the funeral home will usually charge for that because it does cost them money to keep the cooler on. I hope that helps to answer your question. If you have a specific situation you want to talk about, give me a call.
I have always had a fascination with Caskets,hearses and anything to do with funerals. but alas my ability and talent lies in another field
While working at a local funeral Home PT doing removals, I had the chance to see the Promethean up close and personal,(absolutely stunning) and MY personal casket of choice, This one had a red velvet interior that actually enhanced the appearance of the deceased, I intend to do a pre-need and specifically ask for this. 20-30.000 is not to much to spend to go out in style even for a man of modest means such as myself
this is all very nice pictures but why cant we see some pictures of james brown in casket? sorry if its classified