Gold

Quartermain, please remember Washington’s sending troops in the Whiskey Rebellion for taxes. Not for gold-silver, they didn’t have any but whiskey.

Please forgive if too basic but the market is where the seller and the buyer agree to trade something of value for something the other has.

If I have a dozen clean cans of pinto beans (once @89 cents a can = 10.68 current fiat) and you offer me a pre-64 silver dime valued at current fiat bout 2 dollars I’d refuse with a smile. 6 dimes maybe IF I had someone that would sell me something I NEED for 6 silver dimes.

NOW, that was easy as we have the Internet to get values.

Now NO Internet. Been more than a month since the grid power was lost. Most folks are plain out of Food.

How many silver dimes of a can of beans now.

Unless the existing Gov.com accepts silver dimes for payment of taxes, who wants to guesstimate the value tomorrow?

In the early days of our Republic, there was way too many paper colonial dollars which although PROMISED to be redeemed after the war for the Spanish Silver Milled Dollar really didn’t happen. Not worth a colonial was a saying for worthless.

Almost EVERY Transaction was Barter as Gold and Silver was pretty rare.

Thus, Washington’s NEED for cash. Those whiskey makers didn’t have silver or gold to “pay taxes” BUT Washington could send the whiskey across the ocean FOR SALE FOR Gold.

In the near future when the US Dollar is almost as valuable as a Confederate note or Colonial dollar as what happens when a Nation goes into Civil War or hyperinflation, PM’s or Barter is the coin of the people.

Note I said both Barter and PM’s. I’d much rather trade you a 5 gallon bucket of carrots for your milk bucket of milk. Silver and Gold while nice have value ONLY IF the seller can USE them to buy more tradeable goods.

Historically even when America started making real money using PM coins there was plenty of barter of stuff and services. Even as recently as the Great Depression (when paper money was common) I’ve seen from my Grandparents diary and old stuff a few record books where they would write down services rendered, both initialed it and later it was scratched off when redeemed.

When I was in Bosnia during the ethnic cleansing-civil war PM’s were valuable BUT the trade value was pretty harsh. A gold wedding ring (nominally about 200 dollars) might get you a box of ammo or a half full bottle of maybe expired antibiotics.

That’s because the new owner of that ring had to get it outside of the warzone, sell it and get more stock.

Same issue I suspect with a nice Krugerrand. It has to go somewhere where there are buyers and converted into “Money” to buy more antibiotics and such to be brought back into our chaotic civil war.

I hope this was reasonably clear.