# Gold coins.. hypothetical question **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 8, 2026, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gold-coins-hypothetical-question/1033669 "2026-10-08T14:47:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gold-coins-hypothetical-question/1033669/61 "2026-10-12T17:06:18Z")
Where you getting salt? In post- apocalyptic world? I think the box with the girl holding the umbrella..eh Mortons, won’t be readily available. Looting will start almost immediately. Any thing left on store shelves will be gone. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gold-coins-hypothetical-question/1033669/62 "2026-10-12T17:14:21Z")
You get salt the same place you get gold coins–by acquiring it in the present time. You won’t be able to get gold coins after the apocalypse, either. My point is that if you’re planning for the barter economy of the post- apocalyptic world, it’s better to buy lots of cheap stuff in bulk today that will greatly increase in value after the apocalypse, like salt, rather trying to stock up on gold coins. You can buy a case of salt for almost nothing and forget about it in the back of the closet till you need it. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gold-coins-hypothetical-question/1033669/63 "2026-10-12T17:14:24Z")
I’m shocked that no one has mentioned the _Twilight Zone_ episode, “[The Rip Van Winkle Caper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rip_Van_Winkle_Caper).” Four men steal $1 million worth of gold bars, then hide in a secret cave in Death Valley in suspended animation chambers where they sleep for 100 years. One dies when his chamber fails, and another is killed by a suspicious compatriot, leaving two survivors. The truck they had brought to drive out with their gold fails, leaving the two to try to walk out of the desert with as much gold as they can carry. Wikipedia’s summary of the ending: > Along the road, Farwell discovers he has lost his [canteen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canteen_(bottle) "Canteen (bottle)") and begins trading gold bars to De Cruz in exchange for some of his water. When De Cruz increases the price, Farwell strikes him with a bar and kills him. Farwell gathers up as much gold as he can carry and continues on, but is forced to discard it gradually as the weight becomes increasingly burdensome. Finally, weak and [dehydrated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehydration "Dehydration"), he collapses. > > Farwell regains consciousness and finds a man standing over him. He feebly offers his last gold bar in exchange for water and a ride to the nearest town, but dies before the man can respond. Upon returning to his car, the man tells his wife that Farwell is dead and remarks that the latter offered him a gold bar as if it were valuable. She reminds him that people once used gold for money, but he points out that that was about 100 years ago, before mankind found a way to manufacture it. You’d think present-day gold bugs might take a lesson from this on the usefulness of gold bullion in the future, whether apocalyptic or idyllic. For our sci-fi film buffs: “The futuristic car carrying the couple who find the dying Farwell is a leftover prop, somewhat modified, from MGM’s 1956 film _[Forbidden Planet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_Planet "Forbidden Planet")_.[_[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed "Wikipedia:Citation needed")_]” ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gold-coins-hypothetical-question/1033669/64 "2026-10-12T18:38:59Z")
The post-apocalyptic series _ **Jericho** _ featured the denizens of the small town by that name having a small local salt mine which came in handy for bartering. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gold-coins-hypothetical-question/1033669/65 "2026-10-12T18:42:01Z")
> [@How did props from "Forbidden Planet" end up on Twilight Zone episodes?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-props-from-forbidden-planet-end-up-on-twilight-zone-episodes/1033496): > > Whoever owned Twilight Zone either was the same company behind Forbidden Planet or else bought the rights to the props. Does anyone know the full story? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gold-coins-hypothetical-question/1033669/66 "2026-10-12T18:53:29Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > So what happens to the value of gold if paper money is worth nothing? Or say a zombie apocalypse causes no one to have cash money. Banking is completely failed. You really really need that antibiotic or a bucket of meat. Will anyone take gold in exchange? > > If gold is only good for looking at, it’s realistically, worthless. > > I’d try Gold soup but I can’t imagine it tastes good or is healthy. The only reason gold ever had any value apart from its metallic and ornamental use is because the king or chief or other market-making figure would accept it as tribute and facilitate its exchange for things you actually need, making it a suitable store of value. This also depends on the economy producing more than it can consume, so that there’s actually something to buy with your store of value. Since most true apocalyptic scenarios are defined in part by the loss of government and industrial production, nobody’s going to be making markets in precious metals, and there won’t be enough surplus production to justify any store of value beyond the stuff you actually need to use. So no, gold won’t be much use in the zombie apocalypse, at least until industrial and agricultural production has ramped up enough to start producing surpluses. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gold-coins-hypothetical-question/1033669/67 "2026-10-12T20:12:32Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > because the king or chief or other market-making figure would accept it as tribute and facilitate its exchange I’ve heard it claimed that demanding taxes in coin was expressly so that the king’s armies could “pay” the civilian populace for the supplies they needed in wartime, rather than go through the tedious and unpopular step of requisitioning goods in kind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gold-coins-hypothetical-question/1033669.md?page=3)