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Tuesday, 25th March 2008 (1593 views)

A high profile conflict between the US and Spain over gold treasure uncovered in a shipwreck has another claimant - Peru.

The Guardian reports that the 500,000 gold and silver coins discovered by US firm Odyssey Marine Exploration are now being claimed by the South American country as well as Spain.

Discovered in May 2007, the Black Swan treasure has been at the centre of international controversy since Spain asserted its belief that the loot was that of the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish ship that sunk in 1804.

Treasure hunting firm Odyssey has maintained that the treasure was not discovered in Spanish waters and refused to divulge any information about its find.

Now, Peru is claiming that the treasure was probably minted from metal taken by the Spaniards without permission.

"If we can establish that some or all of the recovered artefacts came from Peru, we are ready to reclaim them as material remnants of our past," Blanca Alva Guerrero, director of the defence of cultural patrimony at Peru's National Institute of Culture, told the publication.

Peru achieved independence from Spain in 1821.

 

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