Valley man cashes in more than 1 million pennies that were used to build giant pyramid

GOODYEAR, Ariz. - Cory Nielsen has collected pennies for many years.

"I've seen people try to do this record before and they just lost their mind and they just stopped, but I liked it. I enjoyed it. It was a stress reliever for me," he said.

He not only collected the pennies, but it took him nearly three years to build this pyramid.

"They're just free stand. No glue, no welding or anything like that," Nielsen said.

Now that he's taken them all down, he's cashing in.

"Today, I am turning in one 1,030,315 pennies," he said.

Bags and bags of coins, the pennies weighed in at about 6,000 pounds. Nielsen loaded them all into two cargo vans, where he took them to a West Valley credit union.

"I had the patience and I had the passion, so I listened to the radio and it was no big deal," he said.

His determination earned Nielsen a new record winner, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

"I thought I saw the world record and I wanted to beat it and that's exactly what I did," he said.

And over $10,000 in cash.