The group were staying in a field near the ancient village of Pewsey when they found the treasure trove just six paces from where they had pitched their tent.
Computer shop owner, Robert Abbott, from Essex, switched on his metal detector after having breakfast one morning and very quickly came across something.
While at first the 53-year-old uncovered only discarded metal tent pegs, he dug a little deeper and hidden below was a valuable silver Roman siliqua coin said to be about 1,600 years old.
His friends: herds manager, Mick Rae, 63; and carpenter, David Allen, 59, sprang into action and helped dig up dozens more of the coins.
By the end of the weekend, they had found 161 coins, including silver siliqua and miliarense coins dating from AD 340–402.
With so many coins, and no where else to keep them, they resorted to storing them in their camping washing-up bowl as they did not have anything else to store them in.
Mr Abbott said: “Having finished breakfast first, I turned on my machine – a Minelab Equinox 800 – 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.
