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The Batesville "Promethean" is a 48 oz bronze casket (made of sheets weighing 48 ounces per square foot). These types of caskets usually weigh between 300 and 400 lbs. As Michael Jackson's casket does not have a double lid, the figure is probably closer to 300.
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When did Michael Weight die?
Michael Weight was born on May 31, 1906, in Cape Town, South Africa.
Was Aaliyah's casket made of pure gold?
Press photos taken in black & white showing Aaliyah's shining metallic casket can give the impression that it was made of pure gold. But actually it was a silver plated copper deposit coffin. After the death of American singer Aaliyah Dana Haughton (caused in 2001 as a result of a plane crash on the Bahamas), the renown Frank E. Campbell funeral home of Manhattan provided the casket for her funeral. Aaliyah's relatives chose a very rare and exclusive model - one of the last available copper deposit models manufactured by the former National casket company of Boston, Mass. The type designation was # 20761, a double lid model with lavish ornamental corners and a silver plated exterior. Unlike standard copper caskets which are welded from 32 oz or 48 oz (ounces per square foot) sheets of wrought copper (resulting in an empty weight between 200 and 300 lbs), copper deposit casket are made in a time consuming process by which copper molecules are deposited on a casket form. The National copper deposit caskets had no joints or welding seams nor did the attachments of the handles penetrate the casket walls. Copper deposit caskets have unusually thick walls of 1/8" (3 mm) resulting in a weight between 600 and 800 lbs. The funeral pictures show that at least eight pall bearers were needed to carry Aaliyah's casket. In the 1970s, the price of copper deposit caskets, which are no longer manufactured in the US, was about 10 to 12 times that of a standard 32 oz copper casket. The optional silver plating of the exterior added around 25 % to the basic price of the luxury casket. Other celebrities buried in National copper deposit caskets were for example President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Elvis Presley, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and religious leader Elijah Muhammad. If manufactured today, one of these National copper deposit caskets would be much more expensive than Michael Jackson's "golden" casket, which actually was a polished 48 oz bronze Batesville "Promethean" casket with 14 karat gold plated handles.
How much did Aaliyah casket cost?
Most probably, the retail price of her casket is known only to the funeral home and to the family. But also the wholesale price is difficult to quote because when Aaliyah died in 2001, her casket had been out of production already for more than 20 years. Nevertheless some general information as to its price can be given. Aaliyah's relatives chose a very rare and exclusive model - one of the last available copper deposit caskets manufactured by the former National casket company of Boston. The type designation was # 20761, a double lid model with lavish ornamental corners, hand tufted premium velvet interior and a silver plated exterior. Unlike standard solid copper caskets which are welded from 32 oz or 48 oz (ounces per square foot) sheets of wrought copper (resulting in an empty weight between 200 and 300 lbs), copper deposit casket are made in a time consuming process by which copper molecules are deposited on a casket form. The National copper deposit caskets had no joints or welding seams nor did the attachments of the handles penetrate the casket walls. Copper deposit caskets have unusually thick walls of 1/8" (3 mm) resulting in a weight between 600 and 800 lbs. Aaliyah's funeral pictures show that at least eight pall bearers were needed to carry her casket. Other celebrities buried in National copper deposit caskets (of somewhat different design were for example President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Elvis Presley, and newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. In the 1970s, the wholesale prices of copper deposit caskets, which are no longer manufactured in the US, were in the range of $ 5,000 to 6,000 - about 10 to 12 times that of standard 32 oz copper caskets (available at wholesale prices from $ 500 upwards at the time). The optional silver plating of the exterior added around 25 % to the basic price of the luxury casket. If manufactured today, one of these National copper deposit caskets certainly would be much more expensive than Michael Jackson's "golden" casket, which actually was a polished 48oz bronze Batesville "Promethean" coffin with 14 karat gold plated handles, for which the family is said to have paid around $ 25,000.
What model of batesville casket was used for Aaliyah?
Aaliyah wasn't buried in a Batesville casket, but in one of the last copper deposit caskets made by the former National Casket Company of Boston. The type designation of her silver plated casket was # 20761, a double lid model with lavish ornamental corners and a hand tufted premium velvet interior. Unlike standard copper caskets, which are welded from 32 oz or 48 oz (ounces per square foot) sheets of wrought copper (resulting in an empty weight between 200 and 300 lbs), copper deposit casket are made in a time consuming process by which copper molecules are deposited on a casket form. The famous National copper deposit caskets had no joints or welding seams nor did the attachments of the handles penetrate the casket walls. Copper deposit caskets have unusually thick walls of 1/8" (3 mm) resulting in a weight between 600 and 800 lbs. The funeral pictures show that at least eight pall bearers were needed to carry Aaliyah's casket. In the 1970s, the price of copper deposit caskets, which are no longer manufactured in the US, was about 10 to 12 times that of a standard 32 oz copper casket. The optional silver plating of the exterior added around 25 % to the basic price of the luxury casket. Other celebrities buried in National copper deposit caskets (of different designs) were for example President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Elvis Presley, and the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst .
What company manufactured Aaliyah's casket?
Batesville The answer "Batesville" needs correction: Aaliyah was buried in one of the last seamless solid copper deposit caskets (units made from electrolytically deposited copper instead of welded sheets of wrought copper) manufactured by the (former) National Casket Co. of Boston. This was a very exclusive casket, extremely heavy (over 600 lbs - two to three times the weight of a standard sheet copper casket) and extraordinarily expensive - ten to twelve times as much as a standard copper sheet casket. Aaliya's casket cost even an extra 20% to 25% more than a "simple" copper deposit casket because it had a silver plated exterior. Her ornamental National No. 20761 model was a double lid casket featuring an undivided outer top and an inner divided inner lid. The interior was of hand tufted velvet.
