U.S. couple risk trial in France over stolen 18th-century shipwreck gold
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Eleonor 'Gay' Courter and her 82-year-old husband, Philip, have been accused of helping to sell the bullion online for a French diver who stole it decades ago, but have denied knowledge of any wrongdoing.
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Le Prince de Conty, a French ship trading with Asia, sank off the coast of Brittany during a stormy night in the winter of 1746.
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Archaeologists in the 1980s discovered fine 18th-century Chinese porcelain, the remains of tea crates, and three Chinese gold bars in and around the shipwreck. But a violent storm in 1985 dispersed the ship's remains, ending official excavations.
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Years later in 2018, the head of France's underwater archaeology department, Michel L'Hour, spotted a suspicious sale of five gold ingots on a U.S. auction house website. He told U.S. authorities he believed they hailed from the Prince de Conty, and they seized the treasure, returning it to France in 2022.
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Investigators identified the seller as a certain Eleonor 'Gay' Courter, an author and film producer living in Florida.
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Pesty had told the Antiques Roadshow television series in 1999 that she discovered the gold while diving off the west African island of Cape Verde. But investigators found this to be unlikely and instead focused on her brother-in-law, now 77-year-old underwater photographer Yves Gladu.
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A 1983 trial had found five people guilty of embezzlement and receiving stolen goods over the plundering of the Prince de Conty. Gladu was not among them.
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Held in custody in 2022, he confessed to having retrieved 16 gold bars from the ship during around 40 dives on the site between 1976 and 1999. He said he had sold them all in 2006 to a retired member of the military living in Switzerland. But he denied ever having given any to his American friends the Courters.
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He had known the author and her husband since the 1980s, and they had joined him on holiday on his catamaran in Greece in 2011, in the Caribbean in 2014 and in French Polynesia in 2015, investigators found.
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Brest, France — An 80-year-old U.S. novelist and her husband are among several people facing a possible trial in France over the illegal sale of gold bars plundered from an 18th-century shipwreck, after French prosecutors requested the case go to court. Article content Eleonor 'Gay' Courter and her 82-year-old husband, Philip, have been accused of helping to sell the bullion online for a French diver who stole it decades ago, but have denied knowledge of any wrongdoing. Article content Article content Article content Le Prince de Conty, a French ship trading with Asia, sank off the coast of Brittany during a stormy night in the winter of 1746. Article content Article content Archaeologists in the 1980s discovered fine 18th-century Chinese porcelain, the remains of tea crates, and three Chinese gold bars in and around the shipwreck. But a violent storm in 1985 dispersed the ship's remains, ending official excavations. Article content Years later in 2018, the head of France's underwater archaeology department, Michel L'Hour, spotted a suspicious sale of five gold ingots on a U.S. auction house website. He told U.S. authorities he believed they hailed from the Prince de Conty, and they seized the treasure, returning it to France in 2022. Article content Investigators identified the seller as a certain Eleonor 'Gay' Courter, an author and film producer living in Florida. Article content Article content Pesty had told the Antiques Roadshow television series in 1999 that she discovered the gold while diving off the west African island of Cape Verde. But investigators found this to be unlikely and instead focused on her brother-in-law, now 77-year-old underwater photographer Yves Gladu. Article content Article content A 1983 trial had found five people guilty of embezzlement and receiving stolen goods over the plundering of the Prince de Conty. Gladu was not among them. Article content Held in custody in 2022, he confessed to having retrieved 16 gold bars from the ship during around 40 dives on the site between 1976 and 1999. He said he had sold them all in 2006 to a retired member of the military living in Switzerland. But he denied ever having given any to his American friends the Courters. Article content He had known the author and her husband since the 1980s, and they had joined him on holiday on his catamaran in Greece in 2011, in the Caribbean in 2014 and in French Polynesia in 2015, investigators found.
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