Man Cashes in Penny Collection

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RUSTON, LA (WTXF) A Louisiana man is taking his penny collection to a whole new level.

Ortha Anders finally cashed in on his 40-year penny collection, which is  worth more than $5,136.14. The pennies were all inside 15 huge water jugs.

Anders says his insurance company is no longer insuring the pennies he stores at his house, so that motivated him to hand over the heavy collection.

The coin collector started his coin fascination back in the 1970's as a little boy. The pennies symbolize more than just money for Anders.

'I'd break a dollar before I spent a penny and if I was at your house and a penny was on the floor, I'd pick it up and I'd tell you if this was a quarter I'd give it back to you,” said Anders. 'Whenever I would see a penny, I would always say a prayer of thanks. It was a reminder to me to always be thankful.'

His collection has about half-of-a-million pennies, which means he collected more than 30 pennies a day for 40 years.