I'll admit it: I've made fun of the guys who walk along the beach with metal detectors, scouring the sand as though they might find a haul of Spanish doubloons at any moment.

Today, those aspiring treasure hunters can laugh at me as I sit here, merely recounting the tale of their most recent epic exploit.

It started as a simple expedition. Three friends in the UK asked the owner of a field behind a local pub in Suffolk if they could search the 15-acre plot for fun. They started at 10am on July 26, not realizing what wonders lay beneath their feet.

Within a matter of hours, they had found a gold coin. A few hours later, they had found a lot of coins, dating from the 15th to 17th centuries. What was meant to be a day of fun turned into three days of excavation, with the friends taking watch at night for anyone who might come to steal their loot.

'I waited in my car watching all night making sure no-one tried to sneak in and take the hoard," said Luke Mahoney, one of the treasure hunters, who owns his own metal detector shop. "Even now I am a bit paranoid.'

In total, the trio found 1,061 coins. The oldest coin was a shilling from the 1570s during Elizabeth I's reign. A valuation expert has said the haul should sell for at least $130,000.

Here's a video of the excavation: