August
22
/ 2015
A fascinating tale beginning in 2007 involving sunken treasure and international litigation shows the lure of long-forgotten gold is still too tempting to ignore, even by a national government. However, in this particular case, the government concerned, that of Spain, appears to have lodged a legitimate complaint against a private treasure-hunting company that had discovered a consignment of gold and silver coins lying on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. After a legal battle lasting five years, the treasure was returned to Spain aboard two C-130 Hercules aircraft, operated by the Spanish Air Force. The planes were carrying 595,000 18 th century silver coins weighing more than 17 tons and hundreds of gold coins, worked gold artifacts, and various other
