M.M.White undertaker WashingtonDC Matthias M. White undertaker of Washington , DC Fisk and Raymond metallic coffins

Fisk metallic burial cases were patented in 1848 by Almond Dunbar Fisk and manufactured in Providence, Rhode Island. The cast iron coffins or burial cases were popular in the mid–1800s among wealthier families. While pine coffins in the 1850s would have cost around $2, a Fisk coffin could command a price upwards of $100. Nonetheless, the metallic coffins were highly desirable by more affluent individuals and families for their potential to deter grave robbers. The case was custom-formed to the body, resembling an Egyptian sarcophagus with sculpted arms and a glass window plate for viewing the face of the deceased, without the risk of exposure to odor or pathogens. The airtight cases were valued for their potential to preserve the remains of individuals who died far from home, until they could be shipped back for burial by the family. This type of burial in the 19th century indicated that the individual buried was someone of cultural and societal importance. In April 1850, former U.S. Vice President and Secretary of State John C. Calhoun was buried in a Fisk coffin at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. 

At this time, Jefferson Davis, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster publicly endorsed the Fisk model, stating that in their opinion, the Fisk was "the best article known to us for transporting the dead to their final resting place"