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Interesting insight. I always thought gold/silver coins would be more useful than jewelry. I mean, how can you verify if a ring or necklace is actual gold, but

Interesting insight. I always thought gold/silver coins would be more useful than jewelry. I mean, how can you verify if a ring or necklace is actual gold, but not be able to verify a coin? I guess using the age-old method of density perhaps? do you know what did process to exchange jewelry looked like?

fatbird 6y ago
I think it's more that a ring or necklace is more easily scratch tested for hardness, harder to counterfeit, and less valuable individually. If I show up with a gold krugerrand (1oz, approx. $1,800 at today's prices), expecting to get that value or even half, you're not going to give me that value without somehow testing it. A basic density test involves both scales and beaker with water for volume--who's going to carry that around in the black market where others are trading things at DVD scale prices? If I have a bunch of gold and silver wedding bands in a ziploc, though, they're the equivalent of loose change and the risk calculation is different, especially since gold jewelry is almost as common pre-collapse cash. The lesson I took is that a pure gold economy depends upon a level of infrastructure that just isn't present in economic collapse conditions. At best you're holding something that will retain value after things become normal again.
- saganus 6y ago
  Makes sense. I guess this is one of those things that sound good 'on paper' , but after deeper analysis it's not so straight forward. Like others said, it's probably easier to trade toilet paper, cans of food or cigarettes than ounces of gold.
  - fatbird 6y ago
    The main prepper whose account I read had a great post-mortem on his first prep effort, that basically went "lots of chocolate and DVDs and other small luxury items". Gold jewelry wasn't even the thing he was investing in to exploit the black market: a massive DVD collection was. Accessible luxuries like a movie you haven't seen are gold in those conditions. People can sock away 100 kilos of rice, but after six month's eating only that, they'll kill their own children for a bit of chocolate.

fatbird 6y ago

I think it's more that a ring or necklace is more easily scratch tested for hardness, harder to counterfeit, and less valuable individually. If I show up with a gold krugerrand (1oz, approx. $1,800 at today's prices), expecting to get that value or even half, you're not going to give me that value without somehow testing it. A basic density test involves both scales and beaker with water for volume--who's going to carry that around in the black market where others are trading things at DVD scale prices? If I have a bunch of gold and silver wedding bands in a ziploc, though, they're the equivalent of loose change and the risk calculation is different, especially since gold jewelry is almost as common pre-collapse cash. The lesson I took is that a pure gold economy depends upon a level of infrastructure that just isn't present in economic collapse conditions. At best you're holding something that will retain value after things become normal again.

saganus 6y ago
Makes sense. I guess this is one of those things that sound good 'on paper' , but after deeper analysis it's not so straight forward. Like others said, it's probably easier to trade toilet paper, cans of food or cigarettes than ounces of gold.
- fatbird 6y ago
  The main prepper whose account I read had a great post-mortem on his first prep effort, that basically went "lots of chocolate and DVDs and other small luxury items". Gold jewelry wasn't even the thing he was investing in to exploit the black market: a massive DVD collection was. Accessible luxuries like a movie you haven't seen are gold in those conditions. People can sock away 100 kilos of rice, but after six month's eating only that, they'll kill their own children for a bit of chocolate.