594,000 valuable gold and silver coins were found at the bottom of the ocean recently. These coins where on a Spanish Warship that was sunk over 200 years ago. These coins still need to be restored but are valued at 500 million dollars.
300 years ago, a war ship was going from Peru to Spain to drop off the coins. On its way to Spain, the boat was stopped at attacked by British war ships. The ship sunk with its cargo, killing over 200 sailors.
5 years ago, an American ship found the coins and brought them back to the United States. Although the American’s found it, the Spanish wanted them back and said they were the originally theirs. The case went all the way up to the Supreme Court where there was much debate. In the end, Spain won the coins. When asked to comment on the coin situation Jim Goold, who defended Spain's claim to the treasure, “’ Spain has now been victorious… I am pleased and proud for all of us"’.
Spain's Culture Minister, Jose Ignacio Wert, told CNN that the coins were going to be put in a museum. The coins will not be showed for awhile because they need to all be cataloged and need much restoring. There are 200 gold coins and over 13,000 silver coins that have been restored so far and scientists have been working hard on trying to save more.
Personally, I feel like the United States should have been able to keep the coins, or at least some of them. I know the coins were originally Spain’s, but the US found them and worked hard to find them. If Spain really wanted them the coins back so badly, why didn’t they go looking for them? Finder’s keepers, loser’s weepers!
6 comments:
Personally, I don't think that it really matters who has legal claim over the coins. However, if I had to pick sides, I would say that Spain deserves the coins more. As Spain's Culture Minister Jose Wert stated, they are "not going to use this money for purposes other than artistic exhibition, but this is something that enriches our material, artistic capital and it has to be appreciated as such." It's the historic and cultural value that matters most, and the coins mean much more to Spain. If the US kept the coins, they would simply offer monetary value.
I also think it's pretty amazing that these coins were found considering the original ship carrying them sank two centuries ago.
I also think that Spain deserves the coins; the coins are rightfully theirs after all. As Sophia said, they are culturally and historically valuable to the country and I am surprised that this discussion even had to go to the Supreme Court to be determined. The US should have been a little more respectful and courteous.
That is an exciting discovery that was uncovered, but as Sophia says I don't think it really matters who keeps them. However, in my opinion I do think that since they are Spanish coins it would more interesting and meaningful if they were to remain in the place where they origninated. Since they are in Spain it really allows the citizens to see the history of their culture speak and since America is filled with people of all different backgrounds the historical signifcance wouldn't be as purposeful to us unlike an old Civil War gun that was discovered or something. Noentheless, despite the extravengent find I think it's better that the coins remain in their country of origin.
I agree with Jamie since the coins are originally Spain's, they deserve to have them. Just because Americans found it does not mean that they can lay claim to it. I'm sure if our country was in Spain's position, we would want whatever was ours back too.
I could understand both sides of the story, and maybe the US could have sold the coins back to Spain. Because we, after all, did find the coins. And if Spain wanted them back enough, then they could have paid the price. What ever happened to finder keeper loser weeper?
Although the matter of who gets what coins is relatively irrelevant to (most of) us high school students, I have to disagree with Sophia on her first point; I do think that legal claim over the coins is important. In cases such as these, strict guidelines/protocol could prevent disagreements such as this from having to go to the Supreme Court. Like Jamie, I was also surprised to find that this "Fools Gold"-esque case made it to the Supreme Court.
On a separate note, I do agree that Spain should have legal ownership of the coins since the coins were owned by Spain before the shipwreck. (Though, I do think that as a common, or not so common, courtesy, the Spaniards ought to give the U.S at gratuity percentage for finding the coins. At the very least, I'd hope that Spain would compensate the U.S for the excavation/diving/treasure-hunting costs.)
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