Because the First Lady, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, decied in favor of the National Seamless Copper Deposit model # 21260 - electrolytic deposited copper double lid design, bronze plated finish with white velvet interior. She preferred the heavier metal casket to the solid mahogany casket (weighing approximately 250 lbs) which also had been taken to the Little White House in Warm Springs by funeral director Fred Patterson of Atlanta. F.D.R. had placed an instruction in his testament that a simple "dark hardwood casket" without inner metal liner should be used for his burial. Unfortunately, this instruction was found after his funeral only.
FDR was buried in a 600 lbs casket due to the perception of its symbolic strength and durability. The weight was chosen to reflect the resilience and legacy of his presidency. Additionally, a heavier casket would provide stability and prevent any accidental movement during the funeral procession and burial.
Elvis was buried in the same type of casket as his mother 20 years before: in a National copper deposit casket. Copper deposit caskets are about three times as heavy as sheet copper casket. Elvis' sopper deposit casket had an empty weight between 600 and 800 lbs.
600 lbs is 272.16kg
600 pounds is equivalent to approximately 272.16 kilograms.
600 lbs = 600 pounds
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 .
Most probably only the family and the funeral home know the exact retail price of Elvis' casket. One does know that around $ 8,000 had been paid 20 years before at the funeral of his mother who was buried in the same kind of casket. At the time of Elvis' death, the wholesale price of his casket was already between $ 5,000 and 6,000. That price was about 10 to 12 times that of standard 32 oz copper sheet caskets in the 1970s. The casket is no longer in production. Elvis was buried in one of the last seamless copper deposit units manufactured by the National Casket Company of Boston until the early 1980s. Copper deposit caskets are neither welded from sheets of wrought copper as standard copper caskets are, nor are they copper liners (as formerly used inside of luxury wooden caskets). The often used description "a copper lined casket" therefore is misleading. Copper deposit caskets are made by a very time consuming electrolytic process in which molecules of copper are deposited upon a casket form. This provides the casket with extra strength and with a very smooth and untarnished surface without welding seams or burns. The thickness of walls of copper deposit caskets is typically 1/8" (3mm), which results in a pure copper weight of around 600 lbs. The complete caskets weigh usually between 600 and 800 lbs empty (while most sheet copper casket weigh between 200 and 300 lbs) depending on the shape of the casket, the type of casket top (single, double or triple lid with or without inner glass panel), the type of handles and on the kind of mattress and lining used in it. National casket was famous for their seamless copper deposit caskets: they had no joints or welding seams nor did the attachments of the handles penetrate the casket walls. The company manufactured several designs. The design No. 21200 used for Elvis had a very stately form with heavily rounded corners. It was used also for the burials of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and of the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.
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.
There are approximately 1.32 pounds in 600 grams.
A grizzly bear or a grand piano typically weigh around 600 lbs.
The question is somewhat difficult to answer because copper deposited casket were manufactured until the 1980s only. Cast bronze and copper deposited caskets are the most expensive and the most heavy metal caskets available. While cast bronze caskets weigh between 1,000 and 1,200 lbs, copper deposit caskets have a weight between 600 and 800 lbs. The price difference between these caskets (which were manufactured by the Boyertown Burial Casket Company and by the National Casket Company of Boston) in the 1970s was as follows: cast bronze casket had a wholesale price between US $ 15,000 and 19,000 while copper deposited caskets cost between $ 5,000 and 6,000 wholesale (plus approximately $ 1,000 for an optional silver plated exterior).
Aaliyah Haughton was buried in one of the last copper deposit models manufactured by the former National casket company of Boston. The type designation was # 20761, a double lid model with lavish ornamental corners, a hand tufted premium velvet interior 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 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 empty. 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 sheet 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 somewhat different design) were for example President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Elvis Presley and the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.
600 kilograms = 1,322.77 pounds. The math formula to arrive at the answer is 600 kg* 2.2046 lbs 1 kg = 1,322.773573 lbs