This is incorrect. The gold itself was valuable, and specifically gold because there were ways to tell in ancient times that it _was_ gold, and how pure it was.

This is incorrect. The gold itself was valuable, and specifically gold because there were ways to tell in ancient times that it _was_ gold, and how pure it was. It helps that it's easily malleable for coinage too. I believe there was an episode of Connections that I saw as a kid where he explains why gold was used as currency. I'm searching for it and will link if I find it.