Tampa, FL - May 29, 2008 - Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NasdaqCM: OMEX), the world leader in the field of deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, today filed Admiralty Arrest Complaints in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on two separate shipwreck sites recently discovered by the Company.

Both sites lie within the general area of the English Channel but are outside the territorial waters or contiguous zone of any sovereign nation. The sites both contain cannon and other artifacts which are believed to date from the Colonial period. Odyssey has conducted preliminary surveys but has not yet been able to confirm the identity of either site. The Company’s archaeological and conservation teams are currently developing archaeological excavation and conservation plans for both sites.

As with other shipwreck sites that the Company discovers, if either site can be identified, any potential claimants will be notified through appropriate private or public notices.

Odyssey’s core business is shipwreck exploration and archaeological excavation, so filing arrests on shipwreck sites to protect the Company’s legal interests occurs in the normal course of business. For security reasons, no additional information about these sites is being released at this time.

Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMEX), the world leader in deep ocean shipwreck exploration, has granted Primetime Emmy® Award-winning JWM Productions exclusive access to film Odyssey’s 2008 Atlas Search expeditions to produce a shipwreck exploration television series. Discovery Channel expects to premiere the 11-part High Definition (HD) series to worldwide audiences in 2009. Production is slated to begin immediately.

“We have the most experienced team of shipwreck explorers in the world manning our ships, and on a regular basis they make amazing discoveries in the deep ocean - things that have never before been seen by human eyes. We’re proud of the exploration and archaeological work our team accomplishes in the challenging offshore environment, and for a long time we’ve been looking for the right format to share the excitement of our expeditions with viewers around the world,” stated Greg Stemm, Odyssey’s Chief Executive Officer.

“JWM has a proven track record of producing smart, compelling television and Discovery Channel is the #1 media and television brand in overall quality for the eighth straight year. We’re sure that Discovery’s viewers will enjoy ‘being there’ during our shipwreck search and exploration expeditions,” Stemm continued. (more…)

By Mark Ferguson for Coin Values

Hearing of a “hoard” of coins conjures up images of surplus, oversupply and the uncommon that suddenly becomes common. This happened in 1962 when hundreds of thousands of the formerly rare Mint State 1903-O Morgan dollars surfaced in the form of $1,000 canvas bags of silver dollars that had been locked in a vault at the Philadelphia Mint since 1929.

The values of the previously few known Uncirculated examples of the 1903-O Morgan dollar quickly plummeted from between $1,000 and $2,000 each all the way down to about $25.

However, the opposite effect occurred when the LaVere Redfield hoard of more than 400,000 silver dollars, most graded Mint State, of various issues, common and rare, were skillfully marketed and disbursed. Market prices for these coins actually rose substantially during the next several years during the late 1970s in an expansion of the collector and dealer demand for silver dollars in general.

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By Amy Wilson - HERALD-LEADER.COM

Worley Charles’ grandfather told the story of when, as a boy, he marked timber somewhere along the Licking River and then rode the logs down the river. Somewhere along upper Devil’s Creek, 12 feet up on the ridge, he saw a hole in the ledge.

He climbed out of the water, cut a pine tree into a ladder and made his way up to look inside.

There, he found a set of hinged money molds in a bundle of leather. He had heard many times the story of Kentucky’s lost silver treasure, and how a man named John Swift had found or hid or smelted thousands in glistening nuggets and coins somewhere in these woods named now for Daniel Boone. But the man who hid the vast cache had gone blind. Blind!

Superstitious, Worley Charles’ grandfather never went back for more.

But his grandchild Worley was not so easily scared. He has been looking for John Swift’s silver since he started reading the copies of the 40 different Swift journals he’s gotten his hands on. He’s been looking for 35 years.

There’s a lot of cinematic hullabaloo this weekend about an intrepid archaeologist named Indiana Jones and a treasure of crystal skulls (which are real things, apparently.) Because movies require it, there’s lots of derring-do and a big finish.

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(New Iberia, Louisiana) - A recent close examination of coins recovered a year ago from the 1846 Gulf of Mexico shipwreck of the SS New York has revealed some of the finest known Southern branch mint gold coins and a nearly complete set of Bust half dollars.

The New York was a side-wheel steamer that foundered during a hurricane about 60 miles off the coast of Cameron, Louisiana in 1846. Four New Iberia, Louisiana area residents found the 365-ton wooden hull ship in about 60 feet of water two years ago. The four, who call their recovery operation, “Gentlemen of Fortune,” are Gary and Reneè Hebert, Avery Munson and Craig DeRouen.

“We brought up the ship’s bell in the summer of 2006, staked a claim and obtained a federal court judgment granting us title to the site, then brought up several hundred coins from the underwater mud last year. We recently sent them to Numismatic Conservation Services and Numismatic Guaranty Corporation for certification,” said DeRouen.

“This is the most important group of Southern gold coins ever found on a treasure ship. There are some of the finest known Quarter Eagles and Half Eagles struck in Charlotte and Dahlonega, as well as examples of gold coins struck at the New Orleans Mint,” stated prominent numismatic researcher and author Q. David Bowers, co-chairman of Stack’s Rare Coins in New York City and Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.

“The recovered coins are worth more than $1 million,” said dealer John Albanese of Far Hills, New Jersey who recently appraised them.

“They include an 1845-D $2.50 graded NGC MS-64; 1844-D $5 graded NGC MS-63* prooflike; and an 1844-O $5 graded NGC MS-64. There’s also a nearly complete set of Capped Bust halves with over two dozen different dates including an 1815, and quite a few foreign gold coins as well,” said Albanese. (more…)