Starting in the 1970s, if Otha Anders saw a penny, he would pick it up, say a quick prayer of thanks, and place it in a five-gallon water jug. Year after year, the Louisiana teacher watched as his collection grew, until finally on Tuesday, he turned in more than half a million pennies and was given $5,136 cash in return.
The 73-year-old stopped collecting because his homeowner's insurance policy no longer covered his prized pennies. "If I hadn't turned them in yesterday, I was not going to stop," he told ABC News. From his first penny to his last, Anders said he would always take a moment after picking the coin up to "stop right there and say a prayer. I never failed to do that. That's why they had so much value to me."
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