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> You have to figure out how to convert that gold into something somebody will actually take You need coins. You can't walk around with a gold bar. I would say

> You have to figure out how to convert that gold into something somebody will actually take You need coins. You can't walk around with a gold bar. I would say silver coins to keep the value down, too. As a "my government made our money useless" back up. USD cash are good too unless you are American, obviously.

Kinrany 3y ago
You can't use coins without someone enforcing rules against counterfeit.
dullcrisp 3y ago
Seems if you’re an American, having your money in USD would be doubly useful!
Frost1x 3y ago
>As a "my government made our money useless" back up. I think that's where you first get into "some other governments money may be less useless" as a first stage backup. Precious metals in direct ownership are really a hedge against all or most other governments money collapsing. Until you reach a global societal collapse, having gold in your possession seems like a negative ROI and I wonder if, should that case happen, would precious metals again become the medium of exchange or something else (peoples' opinions have changed and a fist full of diamonds might not be as valuable to me as say fresh drinking water should such a thing happen). It would likely depend on the cause of global collapse and what people consider valuable (obviously, but it probably needs stated). Precious metals seem to be a good medium of exchange historically only at a certain level of assumed societal infrastructure, similar to our fiat currencies. Cavemen and small tribes cared little of precious metals and would rather trade land, access rights, livestock, etc.
- RandomLensman 3y ago
  In collapsed societies gold isn't great either. You would want to have things that people actually need. Some gold might buy you some antibiotics but the valuable thing isn't the gold and the antibiotics seller would know that.
- Tuckerism 3y ago
  To add on to this, when I think about a situation where you're trying to hedge against all government-backed fiat collapsing; I feel like you're already down to cold-hard bartering. The saying of "booze, bullets, and bandages" comes to mind.
giantg2 3y ago
These aren't really "bars" like ingots. Trading sealed packages of 1oz gold tabs is probably better than trying to trade gold coins of unverified composition/weight.
- MerelyMortal 3y ago
  It's actually better to trade coins which are easily verifiable in weight and size than bars that you can't measure (size or weight) because they are in packages.
  - giantg2 3y ago
    All you have to verify on the packed gold is that the package hasn't been tampered with. Loose gold would also need metallurgical purity tests. Who cares if the weight is right if it's just lead with a thick gold plating.
    - MerelyMortal 3y ago
      No. You have no idea what you are talking about. You are doing a huge diservice to anyone who read your comment and didn't know any better. They are not placing fake gold into real packaging. They are manufacturing the counterfiet packaging themselves. Gold-plated lead would instantly be discovered if it was measured by weight AND dimensions.

Kinrany 3y ago

You can't use coins without someone enforcing rules against counterfeit.

dullcrisp 3y ago

Seems if you’re an American, having your money in USD would be doubly useful!

Frost1x 3y ago

>As a "my government made our money useless" back up. I think that's where you first get into "some other governments money may be less useless" as a first stage backup. Precious metals in direct ownership are really a hedge against all or most other governments money collapsing. Until you reach a global societal collapse, having gold in your possession seems like a negative ROI and I wonder if, should that case happen, would precious metals again become the medium of exchange or something else (peoples' opinions have changed and a fist full of diamonds might not be as valuable to me as say fresh drinking water should such a thing happen). It would likely depend on the cause of global collapse and what people consider valuable (obviously, but it probably needs stated). Precious metals seem to be a good medium of exchange historically only at a certain level of assumed societal infrastructure, similar to our fiat currencies. Cavemen and small tribes cared little of precious metals and would rather trade land, access rights, livestock, etc.

RandomLensman 3y ago
In collapsed societies gold isn't great either. You would want to have things that people actually need. Some gold might buy you some antibiotics but the valuable thing isn't the gold and the antibiotics seller would know that.
Tuckerism 3y ago
To add on to this, when I think about a situation where you're trying to hedge against all government-backed fiat collapsing; I feel like you're already down to cold-hard bartering. The saying of "booze, bullets, and bandages" comes to mind.

giantg2 3y ago

These aren't really "bars" like ingots. Trading sealed packages of 1oz gold tabs is probably better than trying to trade gold coins of unverified composition/weight.

MerelyMortal 3y ago
It's actually better to trade coins which are easily verifiable in weight and size than bars that you can't measure (size or weight) because they are in packages.
- giantg2 3y ago
  All you have to verify on the packed gold is that the package hasn't been tampered with. Loose gold would also need metallurgical purity tests. Who cares if the weight is right if it's just lead with a thick gold plating.
  - MerelyMortal 3y ago
    No. You have no idea what you are talking about. You are doing a huge diservice to anyone who read your comment and didn't know any better. They are not placing fake gold into real packaging. They are manufacturing the counterfiet packaging themselves. Gold-plated lead would instantly be discovered if it was measured by weight AND dimensions.