MADRID: Spanish cultural officials have allowed the first peep at 16 tons (14.5 metric tons) of shipwreck treasure worth an estimated $500 million that a US salvage company gave up after a five-year international ownership dispute.
A tiny portion of the loot from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a galleon that sank off Portugal’s Atlantic coast near the straits of Gibraltar in 1804, was shown to the media: 12 individual silver coins, a block of encrusted silver coins, two gold tobacco boxes and a bronze pulley.
Officials on Friday said some of the treasure will be put on display in museums next year. Spain got it from Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration in February after US courts rejected arguments that the company was entitled to all or most of the treasure.
Spain shipwreck treasure shown for the first time
