# coffin weight?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 9, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544 "2004-06-09T23:18:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@candemom654](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/candemom654)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/1 "2004-06-09T23:18:57Z")
can anyone help me? i would like to know how much the average casket weighs? just for curiosity!!
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### Author:  [@marvin431](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marvin431)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/2 "2004-06-10T00:34:10Z")
I saw on the news today that President Regans coffin weighs 450 lbs empty.
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/3 "2004-06-10T00:34:48Z")
No cite but I heard on the CBS radio broadcast coverage of the Reagan casket procession today that the coffin weighed 700lbs.
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/4 "2004-06-10T00:36:31Z")
Ha…awkward simulpost. Assuming 6 pallbearers, your number sounds closer to the correct value.
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### Author:  [@Miabella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miabella)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/5 "2004-06-10T02:44:08Z")
I was watching the Reagan funeral procession broadcast, and they said the coffin weighed between 700-800 lbs (with Reagan in it, I assume). I was surprised by that, it seems unlikely.
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### Author:  [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/6 "2004-06-10T03:34:40Z")
Hmmm… 450 lb empty, 700 full. Which might lead one to conclude that Reagan weighed about 250 when he died.
There is the assumption that very old people get small and frail. But being over 6 foot tall and possibly bedridden for quite a while, he might very well have put on the pounds. That probably explains the whole closed casket throughout the week.
[hijack]My subdivision is _right_ next to Andrews AFB in Maryland. When the presidential jet arrived, they had a small ceremony with a 21-cannon salute. With our door open, we heard the actual sound waves from the cannons less that half a second after we heard it on the TV.[/hijack]
[hijack]My wife and I watched most of the procession this evening. We were quiet through most of it. But when the pall bearers and Mrs. Reagan were headed into the Capitol building, they stopped at the entrance. I then turned to my wife and said, “Man, I can’t believe they’re stopping them at the security metal detector!” :D:D:D [/hijack]
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### Author:  [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/7 "2004-06-10T05:41:51Z")
> [@candemom654](#):
>
> can anyone help me? i would like to know how much the average casket weighs? just for curiosity!!
They can vary widely, depending on the material from which their made. I don’t think that you can really answer this question in terms of “average” coffins, since there’s so many differences in them.
The very lightest probably weigh only a few pounds. (My husband works in a prison. He tells me that indigent inmates are buried in coffins made of Styofoam. I imagine they’re quite light, indeed.) The heaviest are ones which are made from hardwoods and lined with lead, or ones made from very heav-guage metals.
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/8 "2004-06-10T12:44:44Z")
Having been a pallbearer, I can tell you that the weight of a coffin, when “loaded,” is FREAKING HEAVY.
It’s extremely difficult trying to maintain decorum and solemnity when you and 5 other guys, all equally uncoordinated, are each trying to lug their share of 700 pounds (which works out to over 100 pounds each), over unequal grassy terrain, in 100+ degree central Illinois summer weather, while wearing a 3-piece suit.
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### Author:  [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/9 "2004-06-10T12:53:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> It’s extremely difficult trying to maintain decorum and solemnity when you and 5 other guys, all equally uncoordinated, are each trying to lug their share of 700 pounds (which works out to over 100 pounds each), over unequal grassy terrain, in 100+ degree central Illinois summer weather, while wearing a 3-piece suit.
…and dress shoes with absolutely no traction.
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### Author:  [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/10 "2004-06-10T14:26:50Z")
> [@Lissa](#):
>
> They can vary widely, depending on the material from which their made. I don’t think that you can really answer this question in terms of “average” coffins, since there’s so many differences in them.
At the risk of being a jackass, may I say that if there is a range of values, then you _can_ give an average by doing a little arithematic.
Re: The OP. I worked at a funeral home for about a year. The cheapest caskets are cardboard, more-or-less, and can be easily lifted and carried by one person. Wood caskets can be carried by one person. I used to stand midway down the side of a casket, press my hip against the side and reach over the top with my arm. Straightening my legs, the lion’s share of the weight would be on my hip bone and the rest with my arms. I could lift a casket and move it that way, though I wouldn’t want to carry it too far. I’m not particularly strong. IIRC, the metal ones weren’t too different in weight from the wood ones, though that is as much guess as not.
Generally speaking, the vast majority of casket lifting was done by two people and this _included_ occupied caskets. Two people can lift and carry a full casket without too much difficulty. It would be heavy and it would have to be put down before too long; but, they were almost all liftable by two people. When we couldn’t lift one with two people, that was the result of the occupant and not the casket.
I would imagine that the fmr. President’s casket is by no means your average casket. That it weighs 450 pounds empty may be possible, but I wonder how much and what type of wood you’d need to get to 450 pounds. Most of the casket is empty space, the rest being satin cloth, batting (padding), and a not-too-comfortable minimalist bedspring. The 450 pound figure makes me a little skeptical, but I’m sure it is certainly possible.
I just shot an email off to the Batesville casket company. Maybe they’ll reply!! I’ll let you know.
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### Author:  [@Lambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lambo)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/11 "2004-06-10T14:40:22Z")
OK, so this cite may be as accurate as a bucket of warm spit, but according to this
[eBay auction](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33789&item=3916083639&rd=1), which claims to be for the exact same style coffin President Reagan is being buried in, the weight (empty) is about 550 pounds.
While that is a mighty pretty box, I just can’t see ever being able to justify spending almost $16,000 for a casket. Well, unless it was real tricked out, you know. DVD player, drop down plasma screens, neon ground effects…
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/12 "2004-06-10T15:03:44Z")
So, the story going around that all caskets weigh exactly 21 grams at the moment of burial, that’s just urban legend?
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### Author:  [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/13 "2004-06-10T15:25:59Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#):
>
> So, the story going around that all caskets weigh exactly 21 grams at the moment of burial, that’s just urban legend?
Pardon?
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### Author:  [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/14 "2004-06-10T18:51:15Z")
Here is a link that defines the weight of the Mohogany casket and also the number of pallbearers (8) that carried it:
[http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462\_1540978,00.html](http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1540978,00.html)
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### Author:  [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/15 "2004-06-10T19:02:36Z")
FTR, at the funeral home I was informed that a pall is a cloth draped over the casket and the pall bearer is the one who carries it. Those who carry the casket are casket bearers.
Haven’t heart from Batesville yet.
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### Author:  [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/16 "2004-06-10T19:15:20Z")
American Heritage dictionary defines pallbearer thusley:
pall·bear·er n. One of the persons carrying or attending a coffin at a funeral.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/17 "2004-06-10T19:16:05Z")
> [@js\_africanus](#):
>
> Most of the casket is empty space, the rest being satin cloth, batting (padding), and a not-too-comfortable minimalist bedspring.
How does one define “comfort” for a corpse?
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### Author:  [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/18 "2004-06-10T19:59:54Z")
> [@robcaro](#):
>
> American Heritage dictionary defines pallbearer thusley:
>
> pall·bear·er n. One of the persons carrying or attending a coffin at a funeral.
Literate literati lament lax lexicographers’ legacy: lame, lackadaisical lexicons loosed loathsomely.
**Duckster** , it depends.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/19 "2004-06-10T20:19:09Z")
From [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com):
Pall:
> [@](#):
>
> 1. A cover for a coffin, bier, or tomb, often made of black, purple, or white velvet.
> 2. A coffin, especially one being carried to a grave or tomb.
This would give a lot of leeway as to what a pallbearer carries.
And how many caskets today even have palls?
Some [word history](http://www.abc.net.au/classic/breakfast/stories/s730770.htm):
> [@](#):
>
> Strictly speaking a pallbearer is a ‘coffin-bearer’, so why is the person not called a ‘coffin-bearer’ and called a pallbearer instead? If it comes to that, what is a pall? Well, it turns out the a pall is (literally) ‘a cloth’. It comes from an Old English word meaning ‘a costly cloak or robe, often a purple robe’. From this pall came to mean a rich cloth used as a covering for something or spread over something. From this, one of the meanings of pall came to be: ‘a cloth, usually of black, purple or white velvet, spread over a coffin, hearse, or tomb’. The earliest citation for this use of pall is from the 15th century. I take it that pallbearer started life as an euphemism. What the bearers are actually bearing is a solid, heavy coffin containing a dead body, but what they are said to be bearing is just the cloth or pall. It is, I guess, a more comfortable way of referring to a grim subject. Which is why today coffin-bearers are still called pallbearers even when the coffin is not covered by a pall.
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### Author:  [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffin-weight/249544/20 "2004-06-11T13:56:24Z")
I don’t know about that assertion that lower end metal ones are light. When my 98 year old grandmother died, she couldn’t have weighted more than 100lbs. But when I was a pallbearer, with 3 other guys, it was far from light. Not impossible to carry, but a hell of a lot more than what other posters are describing. My guess would be probably around 300lbs total…making the coffin around 200. And we picked a lower end of the line. Mostly because my grandmother was thrifty, and wouldn’t have approved of us spending a lot.
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