In this undated photo made available by the Spain's Culture Ministry, a member of the Ministry technical crew works with one of the 594,000 coins and other artifacts found in the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish galleon sunk by British warships in the Atlantic while sailing back from South America in 1804, in a warehouse in Tampa, Fla. A 17-ton trove of silver coins recovered from the Spanish galleon was set to be flown Friday Feb. 24, 2012 from the United States to Spain, concluding a nearly five-year legal struggle with Odyssey Marine Exploration, the Florida deep-sea explorers who found and recovered it. (AP Photo/Spain's Culture Ministry, HO)
In this undated photo made available by the Spain's Culture Ministry, a member of the Ministry technical crew works with one of the 594,000 coins and other artifacts found in the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish galleon sunk by British warships in the Atlantic while sailing back from South America in 1804, in a warehouse in Tampa, Fla. A 17-ton trove of silver coins recovered from the Spanish galleon was set to be flown Friday Feb. 24, 2012 from the United States to Spain, concluding a nearly five-year legal struggle with Odyssey Marine Exploration, the Florida deep-sea explorers who found and recovered it. (AP Photo/Spain's Culture Ministry, HO)
Flight crew for C-130 military aircraft walk to the aircraft with 17 tons of silver and other artifacts at MacDill Air Force Base for a flight bound for Spain on Friday, Feb. 24, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. The 594,000 silver coins, and other artifacts, were salvaged from a 19th century Spanish treasure galleon by Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2007 setting off a 5 year-long legal battle in federal district court ending in a recent ruling returning the treasure to Spain. (AP Photo/Scott Iskowitz)
Armed US Air Force personal guard two Spanish military C-130 aircraft with 17 tons of silver other artifacts wait for departure at MacDill Air Force Base for a flight bound for Spain on Friday, Feb. 24, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. The 594,000 silver coins, and other artifacts, were salvaged from a 19th century Spanish treasure galleon by Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2007 setting off a 5 year-long legal battle in federal district court ending in a recent ruling returning the treasure to Spain. (AP Photo/Scott Iskowitz)
MADRID (AP) ? Two military planes laden with 17 tons of silver and gold coins scooped up from a Spanish warship that sank during a 1804 gunbattle are back in Spain, ending a 200-year odyssey that took the treasure from an ocean floor to Florida courtrooms.
The planes landed Saturday with the 594,000 coins and other artifacts retrieved after a five-year legal wrangle with the Florida-based salvage company Odyssey Marine Exploration, which had taken the haul to the U.S. in May 2007.
The deep-sea explorers found the treasure in a shipwreck, believed to be Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, off Portugal's Atlantic coast. British warships had sunk it as it approached Spain from South America.
The coins are estimated at up to $500 million, making the haul one of the richest ever.
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