But the philosopher’s stone was never in the wrong hands, qwanderer…and it was destroyed at the end of the book.
Posted by qwanderer:
What do you mean? As I recall the first book, the Philosopher’s Stone, or Sorceror’s Stone (American edition), is used to make a longevity formula, the Elixir of Life; there is no suggestion it can also be used to make gold.
It’s stated quite explicitly in the book that the Philosopher’s Stone could be used to make gold. “As much money and as much life as you could ever want”, as Dumbledore put it.
The Stone could have been a serious destabilizing influence, both economically and socially, but it was–as Fiver pointed out–never in the possession of anyone who would use it so irresponsibly. Since it is apparently extraordinarily difficult to make a Stone, everything was OK as long as it remained in the possession of someone who wouldn’t abuse it. Now, if someone were to discover an easy way to make the Stones, things would change. In the short term, there would be economic chaos, but in the long term, I suspect that things would eventually settle down, and the galleons would become symbolic currency–like the dollar, they would represent a quantity of goods, rather than having a value based on their gold content. In the long run, the Elixir of Life would probably cause much larger changes.