I have heard of rice, salt, gold, silver as being used as money in times past. IIRC that is. If not please correct me accordingly.
Now I have seen silver and gold increasing in value quickly as some sources have said due to a weak stock market, and/or oil prices. Why would the stock market/oil prices matter to the price of gold and silver?
If the SHTF and a major stock market collapse happens, peal oil doomers worst case scenario happens what makes people so certain gold/silver will be the method of payment in the future? Is it possible for another material to take the place of silver or gold?
The reason I am asking is because I have about 20 pounds of silver coins, jewelry and various other items as well as about a pound of gold in coins, jewelry etc. (Inherited most of it) And I see the prices on Ebay pretty high compared to a few years ago, the last time I checked. And I want to sale sale sale but my brother is insisting if something bad happens that it would only be worth a lot more. Where I am thinking we are in a upswing, and only a downturn seems likely.
Also : bars of various metals (or pieces of metal shaped in a specific way), shells, carved round stones (sometimes huge) in a pacific island, bird feathers, and probably a lot of other things I can’t remember right now. Pretty much anything a particular people agrees on.
Some people are probably worried about the future and gold will always be worth something in essentially any sitution. Or peole think that other people are/will be worried and that the value of gold is going to increase in the future. Personnaly, barring a huge catastrophe, I doubt it. Many central banks/national reserves are in the process of slowly selling their gold reserves, so I suspect gold isn’t going to increase much in value in the near future.
Depending on the scale of the collapse : food, cigarettes (cigarettes are surprinsingly often used as “currency” in time of crisis : the last example I remember was in Yugoslavia during the civil war). Depending on whether other countries are affected as badly : foreign currencies.
People are so certain because it has always been the case. That’s, once again, only a convention/tradition, but so old and widespread that I’ve zero doubt that in time of crisis (a real, bad, huge, crisis) gold would be a safe bet.
If something really, really bad happens then your brother is probably right. If you don’t foresee a Madmax-style scenario, a civil war, an invasion, food shortages, etc…, however, you probably can sell it without worry.
In a real, bad, huge, crisis, you’d be better off with a case of Jack Daniels than with a bag of gold. Gold may tradidtionally have been something of dependable worth, but I’d rather have tradable commodities.
In an apolcolypse-style situation, gold would be everywhere, due to looting of jewelery stores and the like. Gold is only valuable if there’s a USE for it: today it’s valuable because people want it for jewelery and it’s used in various manufacturing ways. In an apocolypse-style situation, there would be no use for it. You can’t eat it, it won’t keep you warm, and, as I mentioned, anyone who wants something sparkly can just rob an abandoned jewelery store.
Food would not necessarily be at a huge premium immediately, because of how many grocery stores are around–plenty of canned goods to last for a while, especially if the apocolypse killed off a portion of the population, so while food might be a good-long-term investment, it wouldn’t be good to trade for, say, antibiotics, immediately.
I think that smokes and booze would be the best things to have for true “wealth” in a post-apocolypse. They would go quickly, and people with additctions to either would be eager to trade for them. Actually, the best commodity to have would probably be drugs, for the same reason, but I’m not about to suggest anyone go out and stock up on crack.
What you said, is what I was thinking, and even told my brother. He was saying silver is up because of it being used in electronics etc which actually makes his argument worthless as electronics are not an item likely to be much use if SHTF scenario he was basing his theory on.
I could sale while the prices where up and use that money on things now, and if I ever got the feeling something bad was happening stock up on smokes and booze.
With this argument won, I will have to research gold/silver prices a bit more and try to sale before to long.
Ammunition is various common calibers would probably be a nice choice too. Correctly stored, it will last a long time, and would be useful in most post-apocolypes situations. Get a 500 or 1,000 round case of 30-06, 7.62 nato, 7.62x39 5.56 nato, 9mm and so on, and you would be pretty well set from there.
There are many different situations where you may have to start trading emergency goods.
First there is a Hurricane Katrina style crisis. A major earthquake or other large scale natural disaster might make life difficult for up to a few months in one large but specific geographical area. High value stuff like gold will still be worth a lot, whereas essentials like food won’t really raise in value all that much.
Then there is a war. In these situations stuff like food and ammo may well become worth more than non-essentials like gold. It all depends on how long people suspect the war will be. In any case, you will never get more money for gold than you would in peace, you just might get more money for gold than the equivalent amount in currency. Transport will also be a factor- smaller items are easier to move than large ones and if you have to go to a refugee camp your gold brick won’t do you much good. Military looters are also an issue. They will take ammo and liqour and good watches but will leave some stuff alone. Good cloth, bicycles, tools and trade good may be a good bet for this situation.
Then there is a Mad Max apocalypse. Who knows what could happen? Maybe gold will become worthless because it has no real use. Maybe it will skyrocket since it is the easiest metal to work with.
