The US deep sea treasure hunters said on friday they retreived 17 tonnes of silver coins from a shipwreck, saying the find is the largest of its kind, worth hundreds of millions of dollers.
Odyssey Marine Exploration said the coins and other artefacts were found on a "colonial" period shipwreck in the Atlantic ocean, but maintained a shroud of secrecy over the exact location.
The artefacts include over 500000 silver coins weighing more than 17 tonnes, hundreds of gold coins, as well as worked gold, the company said.
An expert consultant by the company recommended offering the silver coins at retail prices ranging from a few hundred dollars to $4000 each, depending on the condition, date and origin.
The company guarded information about the site and identity of the shipwreck, which it codenamed "Black Swan".
The company made it clear it wanted to assert its legal rights to the find before it would provide details of its location, but insisted the shipwreck was well beyond any country's territorial waters.
It also said it was discussing film, television, and book rights.
"We anticipate that the Black Swan will prove to be the most widely publicised shipwreck in history, and we are selecting media partners that can contribute to telling the story of this amazing project," the company said.
I can tell you guys that a new Titanic type of movie is in the offering. I came across this news in The Business Line, a daily financial newspaper.
