Just weeks after the discovery of the San José galleon, estimated to contain billions of dollars worth of treasure, sparked an international showdown over patrimony rights, Colombia’s highest court took up another involving long-lost loot.

On Thursday, Colombia’s Constitutional Court heard testimony from more than 20 national and international experts to determine whether treasures from the pre-Columbian Quimbaya culture were illegally handed over to Spain at the end of the 19th century.

In 1893, Colombian President Carlos Holguín Mallarino gifted more than 120 gold objects to Spain’s Queen Regent María Cristina. Since then, the so-called Quimbaya Treasure has been on display at the Museo de América in Madrid.

The Constitutional Court must decide whether or not the gift of Colombian cultural patrimony was legitimate and determine whether or not to seek the treasure’s return under modern international laws governing relics of significant cultural and historical importance.

It’s not the first time the Quimbaya treasure has been the focus of legal debate.

For more than a decade, Colombian legal experts have debated whether the ancient artifacts should be repatriated. A 2006 case ended with a ruling that the gift of the treasure violated Colombia’s constitutional protections of cultural patrimony.

But later appeals overturned the decision saying that the treasure had not been officially considered patrimony at the time it was handed over to Spain.

The current case has been before the Constitutional Court since 2012.

During testimony Thursday morning, international experts in ancient cultures and patrimony called the Quimbaya treasure “invaluable” and said that it’s importance in Colombian history is “indisputable.”

Less clear, however, is how to determine the legal status of a gift given from a privately owned collection of artifacts.

Did Colombia’s President Holguín have the right to “own” pieces of valuable historical patrimony under the law at the time? Did he have the right to gift those artifacts to Spain’s queen? And does modern law supersede a decision made more than a century ago?

How the court chooses to answer those questions will determine whether or not Colombia enters into another legal fight with Spain over the right to a priceless treasure.

Colombia’s Quimbaya civilization first arose as early as the 1st century BCE in parts of the Eje Cafetero and Valle del Cauca. Little is known about the earliest Quimbaya beyond their notable skill in gold working.

When the Spanish arrived in Colombia, Quimbaya civilization was organized and centralized, with its center in what is now the department of Quindío. Their lifestyle was based on the cultivation of yuca and corn, hunting and mining.

The Quimbaya largely disappeared as a distinct civilization by the 18th century as a result of Spanish colonization and other factors.

In December, the discovery of the San José galleon sparked an international battle over who owned the rights to the treasure contained in the sunken ship. A United States-based salvage company claimed ownership, as did the governments of Spain and Colombia.