The problem with gold as a medium  of exchange began when the US, under Nixon, cut us loose from the last metal standard, long after the US barred private ownership of the metal, fixed at a cost of $35 an ounce, stabilizing the dollar.From, at the latest, the early Middle Ages on, precious metals barely moved in price - debased coinage changed value, but roughly a quantity of pure gold bought you 25 quantities of pure silver, and 25 quantities of copper bought you a quantity of silver.If coins were known not to be debased - creating several French panics during the 100 Years War, one could buy groceries with copper cents, the quantity depended on the availability of food.Silver pennies were valuable, and the main upper-level coinage of retailers, while the wholesale and shipping trade, and the aristocracy, based their lifestyles on gold.You could buy groceries for a given weight of metal - and - with standardized weights, one didn’t even need an officially minted coin, just a couple of bottles of acid, possibly color needles and a streak plate to buy a hell of a lot of food with gold.Of course, the supply of metal and demand (18th-20th Century building, plumbing and electrification caused the relative value of copper to skyrocket, huge gold finds in the US west, followed by Alaska and Russia cut the value of the metal, but an increasing population neutralized most of the effect.Yes, fixed metal prices could have stabilized currencies if there was honesty on reserved.

The problem with gold as a medium  of exchange began when the US, under Nixon, cut us loose from the last metal standard, long after the US barred private ownership of the metal, fixed at a cost of $35 an ounce, stabilizing the dollar.From, at the latest, the early Middle Ages on, precious metals barely moved in price - debased coinage changed value, but roughly a quantity of pure gold bought you 25 quantities of pure silver, and 25 quantities of copper bought you a quantity of silver.If coins were known not to be debased - creating several French panics during the 100 Years War, one could buy groceries with copper cents, the quantity depended on the availability of food.Silver pennies were valuable, and the main upper-level coinage of retailers, while the wholesale and shipping trade, and the aristocracy, based their lifestyles on gold.You could buy groceries for a given weight of metal - and - with standardized weights, one didn’t even need an officially minted coin, just a couple of bottles of acid, possibly color needles and a streak plate to buy a hell of a lot of food with gold.Of course, the supply of metal and demand (18th-20th Century building, plumbing and electrification caused the relative value of copper to skyrocket, huge gold finds in the US west, followed by Alaska and Russia cut the value of the metal, but an increasing population neutralized most of the effect.Yes, fixed metal prices could have stabilized currencies if there was honesty on reserved.

user
yes
assistant