In 1983, the Federal Republic of Germany celebrated the 100th death anniversary of the philosopher and political economist Karl Marx (*1818, †1883). On this occasion a commemoration coin was issued that bore a portrait of Marx on the reverse. The inscription on the edge of the coin (unfortunately not visible in our picture) read WAHRHEIT ALS WIRKLICHKEIT UND MACHT ("Truth as Reality and Power"). This was a quote from the second "Theses on Feuerbach." In these eleven short philosophical notes, Marx had outlined in 1845 for the first time his theories on historical materialism.