Spanish treasure finally revealed after five year legal battle with US firm

PUBLISHED: December 9, 2012 at 1:00 pm • LAST EDITED: December 9, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Andalucia, Gibraltar, Lead • 1 Comments

• Gold and silver coins found on shipwrecked Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes

By Frances Leate

Spanish authorities have revealed some of the treasures from a ship that sank more than 200 years ago.

The Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes galleon sank off Portugal’s coast near the straits of Gibraltar in 1804 with more than 500,000 silver coins.

Spain won a five-year legal dispute to claim ownership for the treasures found by a US firm.

Only a small portion of the treasure, estimated to be worth around €392 million, has been displayed.

A block of encrusted silver coins stuck together after centuries under water, two gold tobacco boxes and a bronze pulley were among some of the items shown.

After it has been fully catalogued the silver treasure will be put on display inSpain’s museum of underwater archaeology in Cartagena.

So far, experts have counted 574,553 silver coins and 212 gold coins, as well as other items.

Spanish officials say that they never intend to sell the treasure.

Elisa de Cabo, the culture ministry´s deputy director of national heritage, said: “It’s invaluable, how would you put a price on the Mona Lisa?”

Obtaining the ship’s haul was the culmination of a long legal fight.

Ms de Cabo said Spanish authorities are still trying to convince a US judge that the American company that found the wreck, Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration, should also pay Spain’s legal costs.

The company has said in statements that it had spent €2.1 million salvaging, transporting, storing and conserving the treasure.

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Stuart Crawford

December 11th, 2012 11:41 am

Well this outcome was always going to happen – how could one bunch of mass murdering Europeans not find for another bunch of mass murderers – never forget that the European invaders of North America – English/Dutch/Germans deliberately set out to exterminate the indigenous people since they were occupying land that they wanted to exploit. However they did’nt manage to match the Spanish and Portuegese figure of over 30 million, they only managed 15-17 million, just behind Stalin and Hitler.

As any right minded person would have to admit – all this silver and gold was looted from South America with great violence and death heaped upon the indigenous people.

No point in returning it to South America at the moment though as the descendants of the Spanish conquistadores still control all economic activity in South America – justice – don’t make me laugh.

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