A Florida company discovered sunken treasure possibly worth more than $500 million last Friday and have since been overwhelmed by public response.

Everything from movie deals to claims from other countries that the booty is theirs have come at owners of Odyssey Marine Exploration, who said Friday that this discovery finally proves they are a legitimate business.

Odyssey co-founder Greg Stemm said, "We are overwhelmed by the worldwide interest in this project, and it reinforces our belief that shipwreck exploration hits a nerve with the public. I wasn't prepared for the response."

So far the company has kept secret the kind of coins they discovered -- except to say they are colonial-era silver and gold coins -- and where they found it.

Last week a Tampa federal judge issued salvage rights to Odyssey to an unspecified shipwreck site about 40 miles off the southwestern tip of England. According to historians, the Merchant Royal went down in that same area in 1641.

The media in England has reported that Odyssey discovered loot from the Merchant Royal. Meanwhile, Spain is also claiming that the ship Odyssey found could be the Spanish ship HMS Sussex. The Spanish government called the find "suspicious."

In a statement, the company said, "The 'Black Swan' bears characteristics of one shipwreck in particular, but some of the evidence gathered to date is inconsistent with our research, so we want to be sure of the identity before we announce it."

The company said it is confident the discovery will not result in any real claims from other countries or individuals because of the nature of the find.

The company said, "We do believe that most shipwrecks that we recover, including the 'Black Swan,' will likely result in claims by other parties. Many will be spurious claims, but we anticipate that there might be some legitimate ones as well. ... It is the opinion of our legal counsel that even if a claim is deemed to be legitimate by the courts, Odyssey should still receive title to a significant majority of the recovered goods."

Stemm also met with Disney representatives to discuss large and small screen opportunities. Disney, however, said the two have been in talks for about one year -- long before the shipwreck was discovered.