Pub's bar covered in 10,250 pennies

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The owners of an Illinois pub famous for the pennies adorning its oak bar said they replaced the decades-old relic with a new bar top covered in 10,250 pennies.

Tom and Diana Sutton, owners of the Price Street Pub in Springfield, said the first penny bar was installed by the former owners in 1977 and they decided it was time to replace it after three decades of wear and tear, the Springfield State Journal-Register reported Wednesday.

The Suttons said they began work on the new bar in 2008 by ordering 10,250 new pennies from the U.S. Treasury. They said it was a long wait for the coins, but they eventually arrived and were laid out on the new bar top in a uniform style with the help of employees, customers and friends.

"We mixed Elmer's glue and water and spread it to hold the pennies down. It took three days. Everyone helped," Diana Sutton said.

The bar top was then covered in a coat of polyurethane to protect the pennies.

"You say Price Street and people don't know the place. You say 'penny bar' and they know where it is," Tom Sutton said.