Mystery to solve! Rubber casting mold of a spoon

This little cardboard box came from a yard sale in of all placer Rio Linda CA. 7 1/2" x 2 1/2" with the shipping label as shown in pic.
The Rubber mold is 7" x 2" x 1".
This was an English Silver? spoon I can make out and try to reverse
the letters to read England, There is a lion mark and three others i couldn't make out.
So what was this made for? and why? What type of casting is this called? Any ideas or thoughts are welcomed and appreciated
The guy holding the yard sale didn't know either
so it was .50 cents
Mikey

 

Looks like London 1969, Mikey, http://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Dates/London/Date Letters O.html

 

I would guess that they were missing a spoon(s) from their set, and had one made form what they had.

 

So the cast can't be more than 50 years old.
Thanks Susan!
That's a very good possibility @Roaring20s
Makes sense.
Mikey

 

interesting ...
https://www.etsy.com/listing/679007...how_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details

 

Yes very Interesting
A quote from that site
Aladdin House,Ltd was located on Madison Avenue in New York City. They sold Authentic Ancient Antiquities to museums and private collectors, worldwide. During the 1960s & 1970s they replicated a number of their artifacts as Jewelry in Solid Sterling Silver, 14K & 18K Gold. Their Jewelry Collection was sold in Museum Shops and Fine Jewelry Stores.

 

It's a rubber mold for lost wax casting,someone wanted to make fakes/reproductions of an original.

 

Ok so a lost wax mold of a spoon maybe used for Jewelry making .
Thanks @Hollyblue

 

The length of the spoon in the mold looks it was for a full size spoon.

 

Looks like somebody REALLY wanted to replace one of Mom's spoons or similar. Even then I can't see it being worth anyone's while to copy contemporary sterling unless the value was more sentimental than monetary.

 

In the UK, that would be howlingly illegal unless they smoothed over the hallmark.

 

You think they were doing something illegal?
I think Cranston casting is still in business.
I'll try to contact them.

 

It's illegal to reproduce a hallmark unless the assay office has assayed the piece. Also illegal to alter them, too. Copying the pattern would be ok, unless it's trademarked.

 

That is so weird - there'd be no reason to cast the whole spoon, which pretty plain anyway, to make jewelry - would seem likely that someone wanted to replace a missing spoon (perhaps 'Kathryn' worked at Aladdin House and knew Cranston Casting from the business?), but why bother with a common pattern of no great age? Wouldn't be anything illegal here in the US...

~Cheryl

 

As long as it's not for commercial purposes I doubt anyone would care. You can't copy and sell. Dunno if the casting maker could have gotten into hot water, but it's doubtful if the copies were never going into the open market.

 

It's a very strange thing, isn't it.

 

It all comes down to what Aladdin House was intending to do.
This is a company that started out as an antiquities
dealer. In the time period this was made they were into replication of artifacts and making things that were sold in museum shops. Maybe this mold was just the beginning of something. The maker of the spoon was probably immaterial.
Just me rambling.
Mikey