Coffins

Choosing a coffin for someone is probably not a matter you have ever given much thought to, if any. When it actually comes to it, it can feel surreal.

The price you pay an undertaker for a coffin can be many times what the undertaker paid for it — a mark-up greater than you would expect of a retailer. This is because many undertakers customarily ‘bury’ or disguise part of what they call their ‘professional fee’ in the cost of their coffins. And it is for this reason that it is impossible to give you guide prices to many of the coffins below.

Most undertakers sell only a limited range of coffins (so that they can negotiate keen prices with the makers). Many will not tell you what else is available, either because they can’t get such a good margin on it or because they can’t be bothered. If you see something here that you like the look of, buy it direct if you can, or tell your undertaker to get it for you. If, say, it’s a wicker coffin you want, make absolutely sure your undertaker gets it from the firm which sells the one you like. There are lots of cheap versions out there with a flimsy, loose weave which offer your undertaker a bigger margin.

The range

Coffins these days are made from many different materials. You can have a traditional wooden coffin, or one made of all sorts other materials – willow, sea grass, banana leaves, cardboard…

There’s a choice of shapes, from the classic shouldered coffin to the US-style casket to the revolutionary Eco-Pod.

If you think that traditional varnished wood coffins look cold and repellent, you may be amazed by how much softer and friendlier in appearance the new-look generation are.

Most funeral directors display their limited range in a catalogue and give them posh names like The Arundel. Some have a coffin showroom.

Cost

You can spend as much as you like on a coffin, from less than hundred pounds to several thousand.

No one wants to feel like a skinflint and choose something disrespectfully cheap. But here’s a thing: there’s almost no difference in appearance between a bottom-of-the-range foil MDF coffin and a solid timber one at three times the price. If you throw good money at a coffin it is highly unlikely that anyone will notice unless it is made from other materials.

Given the fact that, whether it is buried or cremated, any coffin enjoys a very short life in the public eye, your choice of coffin will be influenced by three factors:

  1. What you can afford
  2. Which material you think appropriate
  3. What you like the look of

Do you have to buy a coffin from an undertaker?

It is difficult to find coffin suppliers who will sell direct to the public.  If they did, the undertakers would boycott them and try and close them down. This is one commodity you cannot yet get more cheaply on the internet. However, it is clear that a great many people want to buy this one last gift to someone who has died themselves, not through a third-party. So all praise to the few brave enough to sell to you. And the best of these is Greenfield Creations. They are the helpfullest and the best value, and they show the way for the rest.

Some undertakers will not accept a coffin supplied by you (they will insist that you order it through them). All will order the coffin you want if you see something you like on the internet. Some will charge much more for it than others. Ring around, get some other quotes, and negotiate the lowest price with your undertaker.

You can buy a coffin on eBay. Search in Home and Garden.

Can you make your own?

If you want to make the coffin yourself it is most unlikely that an undertaker would refuse to use it. You will, of course, have to be able to show that it is strong enough to do its job. And you will have to use an appropriate waterproof lining. Ask an undertaker to sell you some Cremfilm.

Who’s the greenest of them all?

Almost all commercially produced coffins have passable green credentials with the notable exception of many made from MDF, which are full of chemical-crammed glues.

Perhaps the greenest coffins of all are those made from willow in the UK. The material is sustainable, the coffin miles minimal. Yet a coffin shipped from China by Ecoffins uses, they claim, no more fuel than a car journey of 4.63 miles. It all depends how you calculate it, doesn’t it?

A shroud

The greenest option of all is to do without a coffin and opt instead for a shroud. Put the body on a board and wind it in cloth. The outline of the body will be identifiable, and it is probably for this reason that, despite well-intentioned campaigning, the shroud has not made a comeback.

What else is out there?

Here are some of the coffins a funeral director may not stock and may not offer you.

Cardboard

A cardboard coffin ought to be the cheapest you can get, you might think, but actually they cost pretty much what you would pay for a coffin made from MDF. People who go for cardboard are really making a lifestyle – or deathstyle – statement. It is the last word in simplicity. Some may reckon it an outrageous choice, either in a good or a bad way. White or brown cardboard is good for decoration. You can paint it, draw on it, write messages on it. You can get the children to decorate their Nan’s cardboard coffin – but beware: children like to use lots of red and this can give a misleading impression. Most funeral directors now stock cardboard coffins but a great many, hating them, will cast doubt on their load-bearing capability and even their ability to withstand rain. This is nonsense, so dig your heels in. Some undertakers are able, if you want, to put a cardboard coffin inside a re-usable coffin (called coffin cover) just for the funeral. An alternative is to drape the coffin with fabric of some sort – a pall.

See what a cardboard coffin looks like at:

Pulp-board

The Sunset coffin, brainchild of environmentally-conscious funeral director Jeremy Clutterbuck and engineer Steve Ancrum is created in Gloucestershire from locally-resourced board 100% made from recycled newspapers. It is extremely robust, and put together with dovetail joints. It comes in 8 pastel shades, is totally biodegradable and has a suedey-velvety appearance. It reflects no light, so no glinting.  It is very eye-friendly. Flowers, photos and goodbye notes can easily be pinned to it. We like this very much.

Willow

Increasingly poplar. You can decorate the coffin with flowers. The cheaper ones have a flimsy weave. Many willow coffins are imported; some are made in the UK. Best are:

Musgrove Willow, harvested and woven in the Somerset Levels.

Mawdeseley Willow, woven in Lancashire.

Wool

Made in Yorkshire from Dorset Horn sheeps wool over a cardboard frame. Hemmed with blanket stitch. We love these.

Bamboo or wild pineapple

Jute

Cocostick and paper

Designed and imported by Somerset Willow. Cocostick coffins are made from the stems of coconut leaves. Paper coffins are made from spun paper woven around a rigid frame.

Banana leaf or water hyacinth

Seagrass

Ecopod

Revolutionary shape. Made from recycled paper. Come in gorgeous colours

Picture coffins

Cardboard or wood decorated with any scene or picture you like:

Flat pack coffins

Self assembly, plain pine – a simple classic:

Click-to-construct coffin, ready to go in 3 minutes:

Crazy Coffins

Bespoke coffins in all sorts of wonderful shapes:

Hand-painted coffins

American caskets

Bookcase coffin

Finally, if you’d like to buy your own coffin now and enjoy it till you need it, have a look at William Warren’s bookcase coffin. Yes, it’s a bookcase which can be reassembled as a coffin when you conk out. Go to his website, type in your size and download instructions for making it. Materials will cost around £30 for pine, more for posher woods. William, the last of the altruists, charges nothing for the download. A lovely man.