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Coin Collecting NewsUS court ruling keeps location of shipwreck treasure secret
WASHINGTON — US treasure hunters who allegedly extracted rich spoils from a sunken wreck in Spanish waters hailed three court rulings Wednesday that protect the secret location of their find.
The legal dispute began in May last year when Odyssey Marine Exploration announced that it had found half a million silver coins and hundreds of gold objects, somewhere in “international waters in the Atlantic Ocean”.
Spain filed claims with a court in Tampa, Florida, arguing that if the shipwreck was Spanish or located in Spanish waters, any treasure would belong to Spain. Odyssey said in a statement that US judge Mark Pizzo had issued three orders “that the company believes will help to expeditiously move these cases forward”.
Two of the rulings were made in reference to a Spanish request to “compel compliance and to declare certain materials as not confidential”, it said.
The judge ruled that although artifact summaries and pictures are not confidential, “in the interest of protecting the site, other information including the preliminary site assessments, the site plans, the photographs of the sea bed and the photomosaics should remain confidential at this time.” Read Full Story
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About the Author
Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NasdaqCM:OMEX) is engaged in the exploration of deep-water shipwrecks and uses innovative methods and state-of-the-art technology to conduct extensive deep-ocean search and archaeological recovery operations around the world. Odyssey discovered the Civil War era shipwreck of the SS Republic in 2003 and recovered over 50,000 coins and 14,000 artifacts from the site nearly 1,700 feet deep. In May 2007, the Company announced the largest historic deep-ocean treasure recovery of over 500,000 silver and gold coins, weighing 17 tons, from a Colonial era site code-named "Black Swan." Odyssey has several shipwreck projects in various stages of development around the world. Odyssey offers various ways to share in the excitement of deep-ocean exploration by making shipwreck treasures and artifacts available to collectors, the general public and students through its webstore, exhibits, books, videos, merchandise, and educational programs. Odyssey's "SHIPWRECK! Pirates & Treasure" exhibit is currently on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, FL. For details on the Company's activities and its commitment to the preservation of maritime heritage please visit www.shipwreck.net. For additional information, please contact Natja Igney, Odyssey's Manager of Corporate Communications, at 813-876-1776.
