Big Haul
The only publicly traded treasure hunting company in the world, Odyssey Marine Exploration, has just announced that they have retrieved over 17 tons of silver and gold coins from a colonial era shipwreck. No details of what ship it was or exactly where the wreck is located is being released right now. The company is estimating that the treasure is likely worth around $500 million dollars. And they have their eyes on yet another treasure trove.
A jet chartered by Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration landed in the United States recently with hundreds of plastic containers brimming with coins raised from the ocean floor, Odyssey co-chairman Greg Stemm said. The more than 500,000 pieces are expected to fetch an average of $1,000 each from collectors and investors.
"For this colonial era, I think (the find) is unprecedented," said rare coin expert Nick Bruyer, who examined a batch of coins from the wreck. "I don't know of anything equal or comparable to it."
Citing security concerns, the company declined to release any details about the ship or the wreck site Friday. Stemm said a formal announcement will come later, but court records indicate the coins might come from a 400-year-old ship found off England.
Because the shipwreck was found in a lane where many colonial-era vessels went down, there is still some uncertainty about its nationality, size and age, Stemm said, although evidence points to a specific known shipwreck. The site is beyond the territorial waters or legal jurisdiction of any country, he said.
"Rather than a shout of glee, it's more being able to exhale for the first time in a long time," Stemm said of the haul, by far the biggest in Odyssey's 13-year history…….
……In January, Odyssey won permission from the Spanish government to resume a suspended search for the wreck of the HMS Sussex, which was leading a British fleet into the Mediterranean Sea for a war against France in 1694 when it sank in a storm off Gibraltar.
Historians believe the 157-foot warship was carrying nine tons of gold coins to buy the loyalty of the Duke of Savoy, a potential ally in southeastern France. Odyssey believes those coins could also fetch more than $500 million.
But under the terms of a historic agreement Odyssey will have to share any finds with the British government. The company will get 80 percent of the first $45 million and about 50 percent of the proceeds thereafter.
Treasure hunting as big business. I'll bet there are some very, very happy shareholders right about now. Odyssey has posted losses since finding the wreck of the SS Republic in 2003 off the coast of Georgia. Here's an article from National Geographic about that find.
By BlogDog, Friday, 18 May , 2007 @ 2:22 pm
Having known said “co-chairman” for many years, I would trust him as far as I could throw the Pentagon.