For a period of more than 45 years, one man collected every penny he came across. The man, Otha Anders, took a lot of pride in his collection. When most people think of a coin collection they probably think about a shoebox of old coins or some loose change in the glove compartment of a car. Anders’s collection, though, is probably way different than you are imagining. At age 73, this retired teacher from Louisiana decided that it was time to cash in on his collection. He took his collection to the bank in order to exchange all of his pennies for cash. What happened next was absolutely shocking.
If you have ever walked anywhere, you have probably come across dozens of pennies on your way. Most Americans ignore pennies on the ground. But not Otha Anders. He saw every penny he came across for 45 years as an immensely valuable part of his collection. Anders told ABC news that every time he would come across a penny he would stop, pick it up, and say a quick prayer. He would give thanks for the penny and use the situation as a reminder to stop and appreciate the little things. Over the years, Anders filled fifteen five-gallon plastic jugs all the way full with pennies. Anders was absolutely dedicated to his collection. He even ignored a US government program that was offering a bonus of $25 for anyone that turned in $100 in pennies. He preferred to just keep collecting. His decision to stop collecting was not made lightly. He decided to cash in on his pennies because his homeowner’s insurance policy had just recently stopped covering his penny collection. Originally, Anders’s goal was to fill up five five-gallon jugs. But when he hit this goal, he just couldn’t stop. That’s how he ended up at fifteen.
When the day finally came for Anders to cash in on his collection, he headed to the bank. The Origin Bank in Ruston, Louisiana, was his destination, where the staff spent five hours counting the number of pennies in his collection. The collection totaled up to a value of $5,136, an absolutely staggering amount. For courtesy, Anders had called the bank the week before to warn them about the size of his penny collection. Nothing could have prepared the bank staff for the sheer size and weight of the penny collection, though. The US mint officially lists the weight of one penny at 2.5 grams. This means that Anders’s collection weighed in at about 2,8000 pounds, which is well over one ton! Anders has stated that he will be using the money to cover the cost of some recent dental work that he had done. Even though his beloved penny collection is now gone, Anders says that he still finds simply joy in collecting coins. Most likely, he will continue to collect coins for the rest of his life. This episode shows that there is a lot of value in life’s little moments, in more ways than one.
