At the age of 99 years Dr Pierre Bastien died on May 13th, 2010. Although his main occupation was surgery, he nevertheless goes down in research history as a numismatist. His name is closely connected with the Lyon mint whose coinage he systematically examined and presented in a catalogue in several volumes. Pierre Bastien is regarded one of the profoundest experts on Late Roman numismatics and has written hundreds of papers on that field. Apart from that, many of his numerous monographs have become standard reference, for example “Le monnayage de Magnence“, “Le monnayage de bronze de Postume“ or “Monnaie et donativa au Bas-Empire“.
Pierre Bastien always prioritized find coins – one just needs to recall his thorough reconstruction of the treasure trove of Beaurains / Arras – but he never neglected the historical aspect of coinage. A testimony of his comprehensive knowledge of Roman numismatics and the sum of his incredible expertise is his work “Le buste monétaire des empereurs romains“.
By his works Dr Pierre Bastien will remain present in the numismatic world.