Sad as the funeral business sometimes is, our mood lightens when we identify a new way to store cremated remains. We can't help ourselves. Or more truly, this is the way we help ourselves. So we admit it, the tops of our heads lifted off when we recently learned that Johnny Carson's wife Joanne kept Truman Capote's cremated remains in a Japanese camphor box.

First, who knew Carson and Capote were close friends in the 1970s? Second, the decision to re-purpose a seafaring box for cremated remains seemed the ultimate savvy person's tasteful gesture. Humble and earthy, yet so darned pretty as a funeral urn, the camphor box is decorated with hand-carved symbols of the wayfarer's quest. Turns out these absolutely gorgeous boxes were built in Japan and China to hold precious objects for the journey to the West--silks, teas, jewelry. The protective camphor wood lends a mystical quality and a slight scent of menthol. Brass hinges and hardware keep it all together--if not for eternity, then for a good, long time. Best news: they're not that costly!

So we spent the last three weeks combing Ebay.com and Etsy.com for every affordably-priced camphor box out there so we might offer them to Fitting Tribute Funeral families. But you too can be on the look-out for your own. While some are worth thousands of dollars, affordable boxes are still available. The 15"-long camphor chest at the top of this post could work as a companion urn. Others she's purchased, similar in scale to Capote's, will fit in smaller cemetery niches.

Meet the Camphor Box