Edmond Knowles and 38 years' worth of pennies

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Benjamin Franklin once said a penny saved is a penny earned, but he probably didn't think of saving over a million of them.

But Edmond Knowles did. The manager of Ed's Service Station broke the record of the largest ever single cash-in of pennies with 1,308,459, or $13,084.59.

Knowles had the pennies delivered to Escambia County Bank in Flomaton, Ala. where the bank's Coinstar (Research) machine processed the change in over seven hours.

The collection broke Coinstar's existing record for the most pennies cashed-in by a customer. The previous Coinstar record was 1,048,013 pennies, or $10,480.13, set in November 2004 in Barberton, Ohio.

Knowles said he started his collection, which weighed more than 4.5 tons, because he appreciated the value of a penny. "It takes pennies to make money. They're worth something or they wouldn't make them," he said.

But now after 38 years, he said he's tired of Lincoln heads. "No, I don't ever want to see another penny... perhaps I'll collect a few dimes."

Knowles, 62, started collecting to create his own retirement fund to supplement his social security and kept the pennies in four 55-gallon and three 20-gallon oil barrels in his garage.

Knowles said he plans to use the new found wealth for retirement, home repairs and emergency medical expenses.

According to Coinstar, there's more than $10.5 billion in loose change sitting idle in American homes.

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