Was Michael Jackson's Promethean bronze casket the most expensive casket available?

Answer 1

Almost.

Michael Jackson's "Batesville Promethean" casket, made of extra thick (48 oz) sheets of wrought bronze and equipped with gold plated handles, is currently (2014) offered at prices between $ 22.000 and 48.000; the Jackson family is said to have paid 25.000 for it in 2009. But the most expensive casket available would have been York's cast bronze "Pharaoh Sarcophagus", currently offered at priced between $ 160.00 and 270.000. Compared with the price of this casket, Michael Jackson was buried in a coffin with but a rather "modest" price.

With some luck, Michael Jackson might have been buried in one of the last National seamless copper deposit caskets available. These caskets, which were used for the burial of celebrities like Elvis Presley and Aaliyah, were manufactured only until the 1970s and cost about 12 times as much as the lowest priced copper caskets made of sheet metal, or about one third of a cast bronze casket. This would mean a current price of an estimated $ 35.000 to 55.000.

Another more expensive choice might have been the "Monarch Elite" model offered by The Gold Casket: the solid cherry casket gilded with 24 karat gold sells around $ 40.000.

There might have been other more expensive casket available, but the comparison of casket prices is difficult because on the one hand the exact price which was paid for Michael Jackson's casket is unknown (probably 25.000) and on the other hand the Recommended Manufacturer's Retail Prices (RMRP) differ often from the prices charged by funeral homes, and these prices differ again considerably from the prices in internet casket discount shops. Thus there is a big price variation for one and the same casket. At their maximum requested price, the following caskets might have been more expensive than Michael Jackson's "Promethean":

- The "Marquis", a thermo-deposited bronze casket made by York, available at prices between $ 25.000 and 38.000.

- Batesville's "Marsellus Masterpiece" mahogany luxury casket , which is offered at prices between 16.000 and 40.000 $. In spite of these alternatives, there can be no doubt that due to its striking gold polish finish making the casket seem to be made of pure gold, Michael Jackson's "Promethean" casket created the public impression that he was buried in the most expensive casket available.