Spain steals treasure from finders. US Govt. helps

[DennisS]

They should have dumped them back on the wreck from the surface and apologized to spain for taking them off the wreck, after the first judgement. That would have saved spain the cost of sending two aircraft to transport the treasure. It will be interesting to see how many of those coins remain after 1 year, 5 years, 10 years.

 

[fisheater]

They should have dumped it all back into sea and said "come and get it."


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tridacna]

I would guess they overstate rather than understate, since they have stock prices to pump up when the make a big "score"

Actually...I was wondering how much booty went into a "private stash". LOL. I'm also certain that the manifest no longer exists. You don't seriously think that they brought up all that treasure knowing that they would have to return it ALL to Espana?

 

[laurin]

Oh well. I saw some details about this presented at a wreck diving conference a few weeks ago as legal case, not a simple case... But as I understood it, it was somewhat clear-cut once it was established it was a warship; then you're dealing with international law where reciprocity is pretty important - if the US Navy wants to retain any chance to claim ownership of their wrecks in the international waters, it has to allow the same to others. I don't quite buy Odyssey's claim that the ID of the wreck isn't clear; that sort of discoveries don't happen blind. That said, I'm not particularly fond of their line of business either.

 

[SC_Hoaty]

Thanks to Rhone Man for his lenghtly introduction to the topic, and to Laurin for the brief issue of it being a warship. From the little I understand, the ship was carrying the "treasure" from a Spanish territory in South America to Spain, so that they could give it to France, who was at war with England. The English sank the ship to prevent this. One issue is was it a warship, or a commercial vessel hauling royal cargo.

Spain has apparently agreed not to sell the treasure, despite their financial problems.

Better get more popcorn!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

If I were Odyssey, I'd dump it back in the sea ... in an undisclosed location ... and tell Spain if they want it, go get it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Quick calculation. Est 500 million to collectors. Maybe. 17 tons of silver melted down equals 34,000lbs. Or 544,000 ounces. Give or take as it would be sold by the Troy ounce. Silver closed today at 34.29. So figure sell at what... 32.00 = $17,408,000. Not 500 million but better than nothing. Cultural value? Who cares. It comes from a culture of murder, robbery, and exploitation of the indigenous people where it was stolen originally. $17.5 mil is better than the nothing Odyssey gets now and you can believe some billionaire somewhere would have paid the 17 mil or MORE to keep that much metal from going to market at once and dropping prices. Investors would have gotten some return and Spain could go suck eggs.

 

[SC_Hoaty]

Imagine if professional thieves used this logic to "discover" treasure "lost" in safe deposit boxes?

 

[SC_Hoaty]

Maybe Odyssea can find the missing Social Security lockbox with the trust funds inside!

 

[HowardE]

Quick calculation. Est 500 million to collectors. Maybe. 17 tons of silver melted down equals 34,000lbs. Or 544,000 ounces. Give or take as it would be sold by the Troy ounce. Silver closed today at 34.29. So figure sell at what... 32.00 = $17,408,000.

I like your estimate Jim... It seems somewhat realistic...

Here's the OMEX Poop (Profit and Loss Statements)...

Revenue
	2006 12/31/06	2007 12/31/07	2008 12/31/08	2009 12/31/09	2010 12/31/10
Total Revenue	5,064	6,147	4,105	4,347	21,001
Operating Expenses
Cost of Revenue, Total	1,088	2,292	632	681	191
Sell/Gen/AdminExpenses,Tot	23,721	27,615	28,438	22,022	37,217
Unusual Expense (Income)	--	--	0	0	383
Total Operating Expense	24,809	29,907	29,070	22,702	37,791
Operating Income	(19,745)	(23,760)	(24,965)	(18,355)	(16,790)
Non-Operating Income & Expenses
Inter Expse,Net Non-Operat	(306)	(475)	(196)	(334)	(516)
Inter Income, Non-Operating	104	335	227	38	4
Invest Income, Non-Operat	--	0	0	(53)	(6,086)
Inter/Invest Inc, Non-Oper	104	335	227	(14)	(6,082)
OtherNon-OperatInc (Expnse)	859	67	93	75	45
Other, Net	859	67	93	75	45
Income Before Tax	(19,088)	(23,833)	(24,841)	(18,628)	(23,343)