Fairview Cemetery, Council Bluffs, Iowa
The Western White Bronze Company of Des Moines, Iowa, and the other companies that produced zinc funeral monuments, such as the Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, had a wide range of symbols from which to choose. The companies produced catalogs that salespeople could carry with them to show prospective buyers the many marker design options and large array of symbols were available. The various symbols could be bolted in place on a large number of grave marker styles by special order much the same way that an erector set is bolted together.
Fairview Cemetery, Council Bluffs, Iowa
Some popular symbols came in multiple forms. The symbol of the classically dressed woman holding a book in one hand and pointing to the Heavens with the other, for instance, could be ordered as a bas-relief facing upwards or straight ahead–left arm in the air or right–for display on a marker.
The same symbol could be ordered as a full three-dimensional statue. Bases for the statue could be special ordered, too. The statue and the grave marker could be made entirely of zinc and could also be mounted on a stone base.
Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa
Gravely Speaking 
The catalogs listed the various shapes, symbols, sculptures, and panels that could be used. The customer would decide on the overall design he wanted, and then pick out the various symbols, and other decorative elements required. Price was based on the over all monument, not the number of images. Customers often ordered several images for each side. The individual pieces were then molded in zinc, and then simply bolted together with screws with decorated heads. Any text required was easily molded in the same fashion. When other family members died at a later date, old decorative panels could be easily removed and replaced with new castings with the updated information.