ARTIFACTS FROM THE NUESTRA SENORA DE LAS MERCEDES

A treasure haul salvaged from a sunken Spanish galleon sunk by British warships in 1804 was unveiled today.

The loot was found in the wreck of Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes and had been at the centre of a five-year legal battle between a U.S. salvage company and Spain. US firm Odyssey Marine Exploration found the lost treasure off Portugal's Atlantic coast in 2007. At the time, the treasure was estimated to be worth $500m (£316m).

Only a tiny portion of the haul from the galleon that sank off Portugal's Atlantic coast near the straits of Gibraltar was shown to the media - 12 individual silver coins, a block of encrusted silver coins stuck together after centuries underwater, two gold tobacco boxes and a bronze pulley.

Authorities who have been inventorying the treasure since it was flown from Florida to Spain in February said it will be transferred later this year from Madrid to the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology in the Mediterranean city of Cartagena.

Displays are expected to start next year, with some items put on rotating temporary displays at museums across the country.

The inventory counted 574,553 silver coins and 212 gold coins.

The metals were mined and the coins minted in the Andes, from places that are now in Bolivia, Chile and Peru.

To read the complete article, see: It may not look much, but this lost treasure fought over by Spain and U.S. salvage firm is worth $500million (www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2241005/Lost-Spanish-treasure
-worth-500million-reclaimed-sunken-19th-Century-galleon-unveiled.html)

Spanish cultural officials allowed a first peek Friday at some of the 16 tons (14.5 metric tons) of shipwreck treasure worth an estimated $500 million that a U.S. salvage company gave up this year after a five-year ownership dispute.

Though previous estimates have put the value of the treasure at $500 million, Spanish officials said they weren't trying to determine an amount because the haul is part of the nation's cultural heritage and can never be sold under Spanish law.

"It's invaluable," said Elisa de Cabo, the Culture Ministry's deputy director of national heritage. "How would you put a price on the Mona Lisa?"

To read the complete article, see: Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes Treasure Shown For The First Time (PHOTOS) (www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/30/nuestra-senora-de-las
-mercedes-treasure_n_2217132.html#slide=more266851)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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