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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
24-k gold casket: Who says you can't take it with you?
For those who prefer the finer things in life -- and, perhaps, in the afterlife -- why not a golden coffin?
People hoping to pimp their funeral might consider Batesville Casket's $24,000 Promethean, a bronze number with gold plating you may remember from the burial of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
There's also the $34,500 version from Golden Casket, which the firm says is gilded with 24-karat gold and requires "hundreds of hours of handcraftsmanship."
In an age when mourners can buy caskets at Costco, the idea of an elaborate send-off into the beyond, a la Egyptian pyramid tombs, is antiquated, say mortuary-science scholars.
Indeed, the average coffin costs only $2,300, and funeral directors say most customers request affordable models. Coffin makers counter that the gold can be functional as well as flashy, noting that the full-gilded versions will hold a loved one's remains longer than wood or other common materials.
"If it's something you're going to spend eternity in, it seems like you might want a real luxury option," said Edward Balfour, president of Golden Casket.
But while experts say grave robbing is extremely rare these days, we can't help wondering: Could these precious coffins turn gold diggers into grave diggers?
-- MarketWatch
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 15, 2012 C1
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