If gold were used as money, money would be like any other good. Anybody could produce their own coins by marking on them their brand and their content of gold.

If gold were used as money, money would be like any other good. Anybody could produce their own coins by marking on them their brand and their content of gold. The value of coins would depend on people's ability to verify their content or the maker's reputation. The market would police the quality the same as it does any other good. If a coin maker began to produce coins with lower gold content than marked, it would be discovered, sued for fraud civilly and criminally, and shunned by the market. The same mechanism would police money as polices gas stations and forces them to use accurate measures in dispensing gas.