A trio of metal detectorists who discovered more than 150 Roman coins after mistaking them for tent pegs could be set to make some £40,000 from the haul.

The band of friends were camping near the ancient village of Pewsey in Wiltshire when they dug up the buried treasure just 6ft from where they pitched their tent.

Robert Abbot, 53, thought he had found a handful of old metal pegs which had activated his metal detector, but hidden just below was a valuable silver Roman Siliqua coin.

His detector went into a frenzy and with the help of friends, Dave Allen, 59, a carpenter and Mick Rae, 63, a dairy herd manager, they frantically dug up dozens of the ancient Roman coins.

By the end of their weekend camping trip they had uncovered 161 silver coins, all around 1,600 years old, which they carried home in their washing up bowl.

Mick Rae from Wiltshire (pictured) holds up a coin from the hoard, picture taken by Rob Abbot from EsSєx who first discovered the ancient silver coins under a handful of metal tent pegs

The three friends had to use their washing up bowl to store their haul

The three metal detectorist friends were on a camping trip in the Wiltshire village (Pictured) A silver Miliarensis Trier coin found in the hoard

They found the coins meters away from where they had pitched their tent (pictured) A silver Miliarensis Trier coin found in the hoard

(Left) One side of the first coin discovered (Right) The other side of the first coin discovered

Mr Abbot, who owns a computer shop in EsSєx, said: ‘We were so excited and we’re looking forward to the auction, but we have no idea how we’ll spend the money.’

‘Having finished breakfast first, I turned on my machine and having walked around six paces from the tent, I found several tent pegs and just under the surface a late Roman silver siliqua in pristine condition.

‘A few moments later beside it, I found another one.

‘Ironically, we had been camping there two weeks previous for a week-long detecting outing. What we hadn’t realised is we’d actually camped right on top of the area where the coins were found.’

The coins, which date from 340 to 602 AD would have been buried when Anglo-Saxon invaders overran Britain in the final days of the Roman empire.

The ‘Pewsey Hoard’ is now tipped to sell for £40,000 and the coins will go under the hammer at London-based auctioneers Noonans in Mayfair.

Nigel Mills, a coin specialist at Noonans, said the coins were in ‘mint’ condition.

He said: ‘Virtually, all of the coins are in mint condition and have not even needed to be cleaned since their discovery.

‘The hoard was buried at a time when Roman rule in Britain under the Emperor Honorius was no longer viable with the army being recalled to protect other provinces.

‘In AD 410 Britain was told to protect itself by Honorius. As a result Britain has become a treasure island of late 4th century and early 5th century gold and silver Roman coin and jewellery hoards as the local population buried their valuables and then fell victim to Saxon raids.

‘Detector finds in recent years include the Thetford and Hoxne hoards.’

Rob, who discovered the hoard said: ‘Unbelievably I don’t actually have any pH๏τographs of myself finding any coins. I think everyone else was too excited to be taking pictures! ‘

The silver coin found in the hoard (pictured) A silver Miliarensis Trier coin

The ancient treasures are valued at £40,000 (Pictured) Dave Allen finding one of the coins