Recovered Spanish treasure goes on display

The silver treasure from the “Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes” (Our Lady of Mercy) went on display in a Spanish Museum. Thousands of silver coins are displayed in a show after Spain won the treasure in court.

The treasure was displayed at the Museum of Subaquatic Archaeology in Cartagena. The entire treasure features almost 8,000 silver coins. “This is an extraordinary collection. These cultural assets are the heritage of everyone, not the privilege of a few,” said Jose Maria Lasalle, Spains' junior culture minister at the inauguration.

However, the coins displayed are just a minor fraction of the entire treasure that went to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Spanish officials claim the frigate was carrying almost 600,000 coins and other precious artefacts. Another 30,000 tranche of coins will go on display at the National Archeological Museum in Madrid and a further lot of unknown number later in the Naval Museum in Madrid.

“Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes” was a Spanish frigate. British warships sunk the ship in 1804 off the coast of Portugal as it returned from Peru packed full of jewelry. US Odyssey Marine Exploration found the shipwreck in 2007 at a depth of 518 meters.

The Spanish government finally received the treasure in 2012 after five years of court battle.