MADRID , Spain ( CNN ) -- Spain has won a major victory in its long court battle with a Florida-based deep-sea salvage company over rights to an estimated $ 500 million in silver and gold coins , officials said Wednesday . The treasure was recovered in 2007 from a 19th century sunken ship off the Spanish coast . The 11th U.S . Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Tuesday turned aside another motion from the U.S.-based company , Odyssey Marine Exploration , and Spanish officials said they now expect the coins -- nearly 600,000 of them -- to arrive in Spain soon . `` With the ruling by the appeals court , the process begins to recover all of the coins taken illegally '' from the sunken ship , Spain 's Culture Ministry said in a statement . Odyssey , which can still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court , said in a statement , `` Currently , no final order has been issued in the case and it would be premature to comment at this time . '' The battle royal began after Odyssey announced in 2007 it had found the sunken treasure . It quickly laid claim to the coins , put them in crates and said it flew them to a discreet , well-guarded location in the United States . Spain soon filed suit in a federal court in Tampa , Florida , also claiming the treasure . Spain says its navy warship Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes was carrying the coins . The Mercedes , a 34-gun frigate , left Peru in 1804 and crossed the Atlantic to within a day 's sail from Spain when British ships attacked the Spanish fleet . In the ensuing Battle of Cape St. Mary , south of Portugal , the Mercedes exploded after being hit in its power magazine , according to the Spanish government 's filing to the Florida court . The federal court in Tampa in 2009 ruled in favor of Spain 's claim to the treasure , but Odyssey took the case to the federal appeals court in Atlanta , which ruled last September to uphold the lower court 's ruling . At the end of that 53-page ruling , the three-judge appeals panel wrote , `` For the foregoing reasons , the district court did not err when it ordered Odyssey to release the recovered '' items to the custody of Spain , according to a copy of the order viewed by CNN . Since then , Odyssey has filed various motions at the appeals court to overturn or delay the ruling , said James Goold , a Washington , D.C. , lawyer who is representing Spain in the case . But on Tuesday , the appeals court denied an Odyssey motion , the court 's chief deputy clerk , Amy Nerenberg , told CNN by phone from Atlanta . Goold , who spoke to CNN by phone from Washington , said it appears that Odyssey 's only possible appeal now would be to the U.S. Supreme Court . That court agrees to hear only a tiny portion of the cases presented to it . The appeals court is expected to send the case in the coming days back to the federal court in Tampa , which would establish and supervise the procedures for sending the coins to Spain , Goold said . Spain believes that the main part of the nearly 600,000 coins are currently in Florida , Goold said . Spain 's Culture Minister , Jose Ignaico Wert , told CNN in Madrid on Wednesday that the case was never really about the money . `` We 're 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 , '' Wert said in an interview . He said the coins would be exhibited in Spanish museums . Peru has also followed this case . The silver and gold came from Latin America when Peru was a Spanish colony . `` Formally , they have n't claimed anything , but we are completely open to consider the possibility of distributing some part of the treasure also among the Latin American museums , '' Wert said . The treasure includes a vast trove of coins , included fabled `` pieces of eight , '' some minted in 1803 in Lima , Peru , Spanish officials said at a 2008 news conference . The treasure already has crossed the Atlantic ocean twice -- by ship in 1804 and then by plane in the other direction just a few years ago . Spanish officials hope it might finally arrive now for the first time on the Spanish mainland .
The treasure is nearly 600,000 silver and gold coins . The coins went down with a British warship sunk in battle with British ships in 1804 . A Florida -based deep-sea salvage company recovered the coins in 1804 . U.S. filed suit in Spain federal court to claim the treasure .