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You might take pennies for granted, but an 81-year-old Texas man didn't, and now he's $816 richer.

The man, Ira Keys, saved up all of his pennies for 62 years before packing them up on his truck and taking them down to Prosperity Bank in Slaton, in West Texas, last week — a load that weighed in at about 500 pounds.

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Keys told NBC station KCBD of Lubbock that he hasn't spent a penny since 1952, because of advice his father gave him: "Whatever you do, son, save your money."

"I like to have broke the springs on that little ol' pickup," Keys said of the haul, which totaled almost 82,000 coins that took bank employees more than an hour to count. Kari Lewis, a personal banker at the bank, said she'd never seen anything like Keys' collection, adding: "You see them on the ground and you're kind of like, 'Oh, I'm not picking that up,' but for him to collect it for years and years was pretty amazing."

Ira Keys of Slaton, Texas, hasn't spent a penny since 1952. KCBD-TV

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“@Bulbul89: What One Guy Did With His Saved Up Pennies Is Absolutely Brilliant http://t.co/GP9smGp5Rb” pic.twitter.com/R64Z42RGoe — Aquanaid Luna (@Aquanaid128) January 9, 2015

— M. Alex Johnson