quote:

ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Elisabella

Gold, measured out, became money. Gold's beauty, scarcity, unique density (no other metal outside the platinum group is as heavy), and the ease by which it could be melted, formed, and measured made it a natural trading medium. Gold gave rise to the concept of money itself: portable, private, and permanent. Gold (and silver) in standardized coins came to replace barter arrangements, and made trade in the Classic period much easier.

http://www.onlygold.com/tutorialpages/historyfs.htm

And it was abandoned as money because it no longer worked! Why? The very scarcity that made it money in the first place.

quote:

ORIGINAL: pahunkboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Elisabella

Gold, measured out, became money. Gold's beauty, scarcity, unique density (no other metal outside the platinum group is as heavy), and the ease by which it could be melted, formed, and measured made it a natural trading medium. Gold gave rise to the concept of money itself: portable, private, and permanent. Gold (and silver) in standardized coins came to replace barter arrangements, and made trade in the Classic period much easier.

http://www.onlygold.com/tutorialpages/historyfs.htm

And it was abandoned as money because it no longer worked! Why? The very scarcity that made it money in the first place.

How many trillions of ounces are  there?

quote:

ORIGINAL: pahunkboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Elisabella

Gold, measured out, became money. Gold's beauty, scarcity, unique density (no other metal outside the platinum group is as heavy), and the ease by which it could be melted, formed, and measured made it a natural trading medium. Gold gave rise to the concept of money itself: portable, private, and permanent. Gold (and silver) in standardized coins came to replace barter arrangements, and made trade in the Classic period much easier.

http://www.onlygold.com/tutorialpages/historyfs.htm

And it was abandoned as money because it no longer worked! Why? The very scarcity that made it money in the first place.

How many trillions of ounces are  there?

quote:

ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Elisabella

Gold, measured out, became money. Gold's beauty, scarcity, unique density (no other metal outside the platinum group is as heavy), and the ease by which it could be melted, formed, and measured made it a natural trading medium. Gold gave rise to the concept of money itself: portable, private, and permanent. Gold (and silver) in standardized coins came to replace barter arrangements, and made trade in the Classic period much easier.

http://www.onlygold.com/tutorialpages/historyfs.htm

And it was abandoned as money because it no longer worked! Why? The very scarcity that made it money in the first place.

quote:

ORIGINAL: wittynamehere

quote:

ORIGINAL: rulemylife
Which were?  Other than jewelry.

I don't know, I wasn't there, and I've never studied history. But if people wanted it, then it had uses. We don't want anything that has no use to us.

If I had to guess, I'd say in addition to jewelry (which you mentioned) gold probably had ceremonial, trade, medicinal, artistic, and tool uses.

It doesn't really matter what uses they had for it. They had uses for it, which made it valuable to them, and it has been used and traded since before recorded history.

quote:


It's being bought at those prices for use in industry ("manufacturing material") every minute of every day. That's what the COMEX is there for. Massive companies require huge contracts of both gold and silver for industrial use. They buy it at spot price, which is currently about $1200USD/oz for gold and $18USD/oz for silver.

quote:

ORIGINAL: wittynamehere

quote:

ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Elisabella

Gold, measured out, became money. Gold's beauty, scarcity, unique density (no other metal outside the platinum group is as heavy), and the ease by which it could be melted, formed, and measured made it a natural trading medium. Gold gave rise to the concept of money itself: portable, private, and permanent. Gold (and silver) in standardized coins came to replace barter arrangements, and made trade in the Classic period much easier.

http://www.onlygold.com/tutorialpages/historyfs.htm

And it was abandoned as money because it no longer worked! Why? The very scarcity that made it money in the first place.

No, gold was abandoned as money because the governments and central banks of the world passed laws making that happen. Scarcity has nothing to do with it.

Don't be ashamed that this is all news to you. It is never taught in school anymore. You have to learn it yourself. Luckily, more and more people are doing that, as they search for answers to questions like "why does a dollar only buy a nickel's worth now?"