Both the Russian and world press are closely following a row over sunken treasure worth half a billion dollars. It was retrieved from the wreck of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, which sank off Portugal’s coast more than two centuries ago.
In 2007 the shipwreck salvage company Odyssey Marine Exploration retrieved from the site of the shipwreck 17 tons of piasters and doubloons, which, needless to say, had not been intended to enrich American treasure hunters.
After lengthy hearings, a federal court in Tampa, Florida, ruled that Spain was the lawful owner of the treasure and compelled the company, which had invested huge sums in retrieving the treasure, to hand it over to Spain.
By a cruel twist of fate, the amazing discovery – 594,000 silver and gold coins most of which were minted in Lima in 1796 – became a real nightmare for the American treasure hunters. Coin-filled trunks became Pandora’s box.
When Odyssey announced its find (regarded by experts as the largest and most expensive sunken treasure in history), its stocks went up by 80.9%, from $4.6 to $8.32 a share. Its capitalization doubled to reach $605.7 million, exceeding the value of the find by $100 million.
Now that Odyssey had to give the treasure over to Spain, the company’s worth fell to $222 million, and its stocks to $3.05 each – below what they were prior to the ill-fated find.
Apart from the company’s problems at the stock exchange and the money it lost on retrieving the treasure from the depths of the ocean, Odyssey spent $412,000 on the transportation and storage of coins during the almost five years since their retrieval. It still owes part of this sum ($185,000) to its contractor.
As for the coins, in late February two military transports flew them to Spain where they will be stored in accordance with the Law on Historical Heritage.
Odyssey still insists that the verdict was unfair. It maintains that the galleon was making a commercial trip and does not fall under the “immunity of the sovereign,” and hence cannot be qualified as Spain’s property. Moreover, company representatives claim that the coins belonged to private individuals rather than the Spanish Crown.
Odyssey intends to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court but experts believe its chances of winning are remote.
Odyssey is not alone in claiming the treasure. The Peruvian authorities also appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent the transfer of the treasure to Spain because the majority of coins had been minted on Peruvian territory from gold and silver mined in Peru.
Needless to say, Peru failed to persuade Spain.
Carmen Marcos, deputy director of Spain’s National Museum of Archaeology, said the coins were minted not just in Peru but also in Bolivia, Colombia and Chile. “And the whole affair involved in claiming the coins was not about monetary value but rather history,” she added. “These coins are not money. They are archaeological artifacts.”
Nevertheless, the parties involved find it difficult to shut their eyes to the multi-million dollar value of this “archaeological inheritance.” Even if they agree that the coins are not money, they think they can easily turn them into money.
The views expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
