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Fred Guentert plans to spend eternity like a pharaoh.

For the past 25 years, Guentert has been building an Egyptian-themed coffin fit for a king at his home near Orlando. And one day, he'll be buried in it.

"It's an unusual hobby, and I'll admit it," said Guentert, 89.

A lifelong admirer of Egyptian artistry, Guentert began crafting the coffin in the mid-1980s. Hand-painted red, black, gold and green and made of cedar to resist rot, the coffin is almost 7 feet tall, weighs 300 pounds and sits in two pieces inside Guentert's sawdust-filled workshop.


The lid is adorned with a hand-carved image of the Egyptian god Osiris. There's a colorful image of Isis near the base and, on the inside, a full-sized painting of Nut, the goddess of the sky. The Eye of Horus — a symbol similar to the Eye of Protection on the back of the $1 bill — looks out from the side of the box.

Several carvings honor Guentert's membership in the Masons and Shiners, which have no connection to the Egyptian symbols, he said.

Guentert's fascination with the mystique of the ancient Egyptians dates to 1922, the year that English archaeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tutankhamen's tomb and the year Guentert was born.

For most of Guentert's life, he has collected Egyptian memorabilia, with dozens of pieces, from statues to miniature masks, displayed in a back room of his home.

A retired artist for the U.S. Postal Service, Guentert visited Egypt about 10 years ago, and he can talk for hours about Egyptian gods and ruling dynasties. He also has several books on the subject, some of which he used as reference during the coffin-building.

Guentert 's wife, Joyce, 73, doesn't share his interests in ancient Egypt.

"That's his thing," Joyce said.

But the coffin doesn't bother her, she said. She helps him lift it when it needs to be moved, and she has sent him out to the workshop a few times — usually when he's being difficult, she said.

"Why don't you go work on your box?" she tells him.

The coffin was meticulously planned, Guentert said, and was created using chisels, files and sandpaper. It's held together with dowels and glue.

But Guernert's modern-day coffin is nowhere near as ornate as the coffins of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. When a pharaoh such as King Tut died, the body was mummified to preserve it for the afterlife, then placed in a solid-gold coffin.

Jewels, gold death masks and gold statues also were placed in the pharaohs' tombs.

A self-taught woodworker, Guentert said he started his coffin for practical reasons: He wanted one and didn't know anyone who could build it. And even if he had found a builder, Guentert said, he couldn't have afforded it. Guentert estimates he has spent more than $10,000 on it.

Guentert has specific plans for his burial, which will be handled by Baldwin-Fairchild Funeral Home. Upon his death, he'll be wrapped in a shroud, embalmed and placed into the Egyptian coffin. A fiberglass mask of Osiris, the god of the afterlife, will be placed over his face. Then the coffin will be locked tight with wooden dowels.

"Make sure I'm dead," Guentert joked.

There will be no viewing and no funeral, said Guentert, who said he doesn't believe in an afterlife.

"Put me in the coffin and let me go," he said.

The coffin will be buried at Glen Haven Cemetery in Winter Park with a bronze marker. Nothing will indicate there's an Egyptian coffin inside, Guentert said.

Tracy Huggins of Baldwin-Fairchild couldn't talk about Guentert's burial plans, but she said personalized coffins are popular. Those who plan their funerals can choose everything from the color of the casket to the addition of a sports team's logo.

People who build their own coffins don't come around too often, but doing so "is allowed and legal" in Florida, she said.

Through the years, Guentert has been in the coffin a few times to make sure he fits. He does, but he lies in it only when his wife isn't around.

"He knew that would freak me out," she said.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...0,323174.story