Pewsey Roman hoard found on camping trip goes up for sale

Dave Allen and his friends, Robert Abbott and Mick Rae found the coins near the ancient village of Pewsey

A Roman hoard worth tens of thousands of pounds is going under the hammer.

The hoard of 161 coins was discovered by three metal detectorists from Essex while on a camping weekend in Wiltshire in September 2020.

The group were staying in a field near the ancient village of Pewsey when they found the treasure trove just six paces from their tent.

Auctioneers expect the 142 coins that are up for sale to fetch between £30,000 and £40,000.

Computer shop owner Robert Abbott said he switched on his metal detector after having breakfast.

While at first the 53-year-old uncovered only discarded metal tent pegs, he dug a little deeper and hidden below the surface was a valuable silver Roman Siliqua coin said to be about 1,600 years old.

It is believed the Siliqua Lugdunum coin dates back 1,600 years

His friends, herds manager, Mick Rae, 63, and carpenter, David Allen, 59, sprang into action and helped dig up dozens more.

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, they resorted to storing them in their camping washing-up bowl as they did not have anything else to put them in.

Mr Abbott said: "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."

Mick Rae and his friends are keeping some of the coins while putting the others up for auction

The coins are believed to have been buried during the last years of the Roman Empire by people looking to protect their valuables from Saxon raids.

Nigel Mills, from Noonans in London which will be auctioning the coins on 17 May, said: "Virtually all of the coins are in mint condition and have not even needed to be cleaned since their discovery."

The three friends who discovered the coins are keeping some of them and the British Museum, which has studied the coins, is adding two to their collection.