The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-05-10
MODERN BURIAL cAsKET.
Some Now Sold ms Cheapiy ns Cofins--
Others More Elaborate Than Ever.

WSOChN DONlhL CRoNE "
Some Now Sold ns CheapIy ns Co6ins--
Others More Elaborate Than Ever.
Probably about one-third OF the
people dying in this country nova
lays are buried in the old fashioned
,ofiins, about two-thirds being buried
ia one sort or another OF the modern
burial casket, which is as different in
appearance from the old style coffin
as il is possible to make anything de-
signed for the purpose. Tho percent
age of those buried in caskets is all
the time increasing. The only thing
that has prevented the casket from
practically, if not absolutely, super
3eding the coffin, has been apparent
~ its greater cost The burial casket,
however, is now produced at lower
prices than ever before. A black
cloth covered casket of kind that is
very extensively used, and was sold
/ five years ago for about $50 is now
sold at $50, and it could now be
made and sold for less than thst but
! for the advance in cost within the
| past year or two of the various mate
rials that enter into it's construction.
| There is now made burial casket of
the modern type, of whitewood, fin
ished in imitation Of rosewood, that
is sold as low as $50, or as cheaply as
q coffin of the more costly kind; cof-
fins being sold, according TO material
aud finish, at $40 to S35. These prices
for collins are also rather less than
the prices at which they were former
ly sold; those now selling at so to
$35 having brought but a few years
ago S15 to $40.
The lower prices have been brought
about by improved and more econom-
ical methods of manufacture. It is a
familiar fact that burial caskets and
cofins are not made nowadays as they
were in old times, by cabinet-makers
and undertakers, but in factories de.
/ voted to their production, many of
these being big establishments,
equipped with the most modern ma
chinery and appliances of all sorts for
the working of woods and metals. In
old times the undertaken might work
away on a single coffin in back room,
off his shop; recently an American
concern manufacturing caskets has
| put in $50,0 worth of new aud i'm
proved machinery.
Not only are the less costly of the
burial caskets now produced at lower
prices than those at which they were
/ sold a few years ago, but there are
also now made lower priced caskets
of the finer grades. For example: Up
to say five years ago the least costly
| of the burial caskets of the most
modern type, one with straight sides
and square straight ends, was of carved
oak, and was sold at 1926. A casket
of this kind, hand-carvcd, and of
wood finished in imitation of oak,
can now he bought for $50; and
hand-carved casket OF this style of
oak, and in a handsome design, can
now be bought for '$l25. This would
be of straight oak A similar casket
of quartered oak would cost more.
Five years ago the lowest priced of
the carved mahogany caslets of this
kind cost $500; such casket would
now cost $3.50; this smaller proper
tionate reduction being due TO the
present increased cost of mahogany.
But while grade for grade all burial
caskets are now sold cheaper than
formerly, and some of them have been
brought down to the price of collins,
there are also made nowadays burial
caskets of still more costly and elab-
crate character than ever, and for
such caskets there is constant sale.
Among the costlier varieties. caskets
covered with silk plush are still in
demand, though not so many plush
covered caskets are sold as formerly,
the largest demand among the more
costly kinds being now for caskets Of
wood, of oak and of mahogany.
Many of these caskets are most elab-
crate and in every way beautiful, in
material, in style and in fuish.
Among the costlier burial caskets the
prices range up to $1,000 and upward.
| Sum