The Investment Mistake Otha Anders Made
In 2015, an elderly Louisiana gentleman cashed in at a nearby bank, a truckload of 55-gallon plastic water jugs of pennies that he had collected over the previous 45 years. After the last penny had been counted, Otha Anders received over $5,130 as the total amount for his pennies. That's over 510,000 pennies. To the general public, this news probably sounded wonderful, but to every American numismatist who collects and buys coins for fun and profit, Anders lost a lot of money. According to the News-Star of Monroe, La., Anders referred to each of his pennies was a "God-given incentive reminding me to always be thankful." In Anders case, however, a "penny saved" may be more than "a penny earned." Many of those that he cashed in to get instant money, would have been worth more money. Since Anders began his penny hoarding in 1970, he would have picked up many "wheat" pennies that the Mint struck between 1909 to 1958. Even today, there are still