Why do old coffins have a glass on top cover?

Answer 1

Probably the main reason was the absence or bad quality of embalming. The glass panel allowed the mourners to look at the deceased without the presence of any unpleasant odors resulting from the progressing decomposition of the remains. Modern quality embalming temporarily eliminates any bad odors. For the funeral director, a glass lid offers the additional advantage that the corpse cannot be touched by the mourners. The touching of the deceased easily can destroy the cosmetic work or the hair style. Besides the improvements in embalming, both price and weight reasons have led to the disappearance of the "glass sealer" casket. Gasket sealers are much cheaper than "glass sealers", which also increased the weight of the casket between 50 and 100 lbs. Another reason was the fact that the low position of the deceased in a glass lid casket tends to increase the negative impression of lying in a "box". Nevertheless, even today some caskets - usually top of the line copper or bronze models - still have a full length oval inner glass lid, which is also a very common feature of (the more and more rare) inner copper or bronze liners for luxury wooden caskets. Zinc liners for international shipments of remains usually still have a (usually rather small) glass lid.