DISPUTED treasure from the Odyssey case has been returned to Spain from Gibraltar.

The 59 items of archaeological significance had been held on the Rock throughout a bitter five-year legal dispute over ownership of the haul.

The items have now returned to Spain after the US Supreme Court dismissed a claim by the US salvage company, Odyssey Marine Exploration.

However, some coins have remained on the Rock and will not be returned after judges in the US and Gibraltar rejected ownership claims made by Spain.

The items are part of a €375 million haul recovered from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, which was sunk in the Straits by a British warship in 1804.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Dont want to rock your boat, but actually, the sunken ship was off the Bay of Cadiz, in what would be considered international waters. Also, the few gold coins encrusted in rock hard silt that remain in Gibraltar are awaiting the hearings in the Gibraltar courts of a claim made by the Peruvian family of the original owner of the treasure, and whose claim in Florida, USA was disregarded as having been put in too late. These coins were not in the original list of the claim made by Spanish lawyers, so they were not considered as having been awarded in the final outcome. Not so the other bric brac like a pair of old reading glasses. bolts and wood bits of the actual wreckage, which have already been delivered by Gibraltar to the Spanish authorites as per the law.

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