Comments on: African fantasy coffins

African fantasy coffins

MrBaliHai — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 13:02:11 -0800

African fantasy coffins are produced by the Ga and other tribes of the Ghana coast to confer the status of travel and luxury goods upon the deceased. The coffins themselves are incredibly detailed works of art that range from miniature Mercedes automobiles and cellphones to giant fish and Coke cans. What would you like to be buried in?

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 13:47:07 -0800

I'd go to Art Caskets and choose this one, for the sheer comic value.

By: Shadowkeeper

Shadowkeeper — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 14:02:36 -0800

This Gold themed casket is called "Fairway to Heaven". Holy moly that's great.

By: salsamander

salsamander — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 14:04:06 -0800

Wow! the Indiana museum of art has a huge display area with a few of these! Nothin' like going to the afterlife in a racecar.

By: Shadowkeeper

Shadowkeeper — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 14:08:50 -0800

Ah, nuts. "Golf themed" ...

By: MrBaliHai

MrBaliHai — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 14:19:46 -0800

There's also Bert and Bud's Vintage Coffins here in the US.

By: panopticon

panopticon — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 14:24:28 -0800

I saw something this on the ABC World News a few months ago. A reporter was in Ghana and bumped into a grad student who was studying the caskets - Here is the html report, and here is the video from the broadcast (realplayer only).

By: Carol Anne

Carol Anne — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 15:35:04 -0800

"Deceptively simple, afterlife vehicles can cost families as much as a year's income ($400 US) depending on materials, design, and length of advanced notice... In Ghana, one would only see such coffins in a coffin-maker's shop or briefly during the funeral prior to interment." What a waste of craftsmanship and money! (I've chosen to be cremated.)

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 15:58:44 -0800

I would like to be embalmed and mummified and entombed in a secret rock cave somewhere in the desert southwest. All of my personal computer files.. mail folders etc.. would be included in a data format thats timeless (ie. non-magnetic and non-optical).

By: MrBaliHai

MrBaliHai — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 16:23:20 -0800

What a waste of craftsmanship and money! Perhaps, but consider that the practice of burying beautiful objects along with the dead has given us some of the world's most fantastic art treasures and actually helped preserve them for thousands of years in many cases. I can't help but wonder how people will react to finding one of these coffins a couple hundred years from now. "Look, they must've worshipped primitive internal combustion vehicles and giant waterfowl!"

By: vito90

vito90 — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 19:59:45 -0800

I'd like to be rolled up in a fatty and cremated, wafting my way heavenward... Ever see smoke go down?

By: nagchampa

nagchampa — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 22:07:22 -0800

I'd like to be buried in Heidi Klum...

By: johnnyace

johnnyace — Sun, 30 Dec 2001 03:08:23 -0800

I've donated my posthumous body to medical science. Teaching cadavers are always in short supply, and it doesn't cost surviving family a dime.

By: Nothing

Nothing — Sun, 30 Dec 2001 03:18:31 -0800

I have, in fact, seen smoke go down. Not to rain on your waft, Vito90. I've always kind of hoped my body wouldn't be recovered, however my death comes about. If I make it plain that was my wish it should be easier on the family, and then I can decompose all natural-like, or get eaten, or whatever.