Apple Valley horse manure coin once gifted to Queen of England
Have you heard about Apple Valley's “green craftsman," who made a coin out of horse manure and a plate out of apples for the Queen of England?
John Westman was the owner of “Apple Valley Creations,” an art studio dubbed “The House of the Green Door,” which he ran out of his home on Osage Road.
In 1965, Westman told the Daily Press that his creations were hard enough to tile a floor with, extremely durable and edible years later.
Some of his creations included bowls, plates and ashtrays, all produced from organic materials, such as fruit peels, steak, vegetables, Joshua tree parts, a wedding cake, tumbleweeds, snake skins, old bread and horse poop.
Making history
Apple Valley Legacy Museum Director Marcy Taylor held one of Westman’s creations made in 1979.
“Feel how hard this plate is, and it’s made from a wedding cake,” she said.
During an outdoor event at the museum, a ground squirrel began nibbling on the wedding cake plate.
“Even after all these years, that squirrel could smell the cake and started chewing away,” said Taylor, the keeper of several of Westman’s creations at the museum, located at the historic Apple Valley Inn.
Gifts fit for a queen
Of all Westman’s creations, two made headlines — a plate made from Apple Valley-grown apples and a coin made of genuine horse poop produced in Apple Valley.
The items were given as gifts to Queen Elizabeth II in 1977 as part of her 25th coronation anniversary.
Al Henderson, a former honorary Apple Valley mayor, asked Westman to make the plate for the queen and to label it “Expressly for Her Majesty The Queen of England,” the Daily Press reported. Henderson carried the plate with him for three weeks, while on a European vacation.
During the trip, he visited Buckingham Palace in London.
With the plate tucked under his shirt, he used a tip from a retired palace guide to enter the palace and sign the queen’s guest book. A palace page accepted the plate and promised to present it to the queen with the explanation that it came from Apple Valley, Henderson said.
Westman did not tell the Daily Press about the coin, however, a London Daily Express headline on Nov. 30, 1977 read, “Coin made from Horse Manure deemed ‘Most Original’ Silver Jubilee Gift to Queen Elizabeth.”
The London paper said the coin was on display at St. James Palace, along with all the other exotic gifts the queen received.
Larger than a quarter, Westman’s coin included a Native American head on one side, and a buffalo on the other.
The queen acknowledged the gifts in a July 8, 1977, thank you letter from Buckingham Palace.
The note to Westman via Henderson read “The Queen thought it most kind of you to deliver it at Buckingham Palace and greatly appreciates you sending her the newspaper about Mr. Westman’s work.”
Space-food for space-men
In the mid-’60s, Westman claimed that the government was researching an organic production method to determine if similar products could be used by “spacemen.”
The alleged research would have come during the Space Race between Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union.
Westman explained that the process of making his organic-based products included drying the items, mixing them in a binding substance, and placing them into a press. A heavy mold was then heated to 375 degrees and pressed under 300 tons of pressure.
At one point, Westman created an edible belt, which included 30 buttons made of different food. He claimed that the belt would keep a man alive for a month, if he were lost in the woods.
He used a hacksaw to cut a piece off the belt, which clanked when it hit the ground. The piece he cut and ate was from two-year-old split pea soup, Westman said.
Horse manure ashtrays
Before retiring in Apple Valley, Westman operated a furniture factory in Los Angeles County. His hobby started after he tried to do something with all the wood shavings and sawdust lying around his shop, he told the Daily Press.
Westman’s most noted creations were his ashtrays and salad bowls made of “estiercol de caballo,” which translates to horse manure.
Westman began manufacturing his horse manure ashtrays as a gag that later turned into a mail-order business.
The manure was first washed, dried and pressed. The ashtray was then coated with polyurethane, one of the hardest finishes at that time.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Apple Valley horse poop coin once gifted to Queen of England
