# Will Gold Matter in the Post-apocalypse? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 1, 2019, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115 "2019-10-01T21:15:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/61 "2019-10-02T18:17:21Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > They engaged in such trade within a tradition of engaging in such trade, a tradition we have been divorced from for almost a hundred years. At the very least, I see the value of gold plummeting as people unfamiliar with its supposed value responding with grunts as they are offered some paltry amount for their big (and useful) hunting rifle. People still trade now all the time. And the value of gold won’t be just it’s intrinsic value, its value will be it’s use in trading. People will very rapidly associate a useful value to gold so they can trade freely. It is much easier to trade for some universally accepted fungible item than to try to work out individual direct deals trading guns for apples, and hammers for horses. Assuming a hunting rifle is very valuable then what would you offer someone for theirs? The rifle maintains it’s value and keeps on providing a return on the investment. What would you have that is not a consumable to trade it for? Maybe something like a plow would be an equivalent, but then the gun owner would have to want a plow. If he trades for gold he can trade the gold for something he does want. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/62 "2019-10-02T18:30:01Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > \>snip\< how many people right now know how to make useful gunpowder \ Snip(s) mine Braggadocio here: I do. It has however, taken years to get a handle on such a simple mixture. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/63 "2019-10-02T18:43:33Z")
Gold and silver however, I possess simply because I’m enamored with shiny-pure things. Copper, oak, Lead, clay, Tin, heritage tomato seeds, Zinc, Bill Bryson… ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/64 "2019-10-02T18:56:00Z")
> [@ZurBob](#): > > Snip(s) mine > > Braggadocio here: > I do. > It has however, taken years to get a handle on such a simple mixture. I figured it out as a kid. Somehow I got a bottle of Potassium Nitrate when I simply asked my Mom for some for my chemistry set. No idea how she came up with it, but she did. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/65 "2019-10-02T19:16:05Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I figured it out as a kid. Somehow I got a bottle of Potassium Nitrate when I simply asked my Mom for some for my chemistry set. No idea how she came up with it, but she did. you used to be able to get it at compounding pharmacies. ---
**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 2, 2019, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/66 "2019-10-02T19:25:50Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The issue with gold/silver of “How do people know how pure it is and how much it weighs?” can be solved with coinage. Old silver quarters and such. People know, or can quickly learn, what a silver dime looks like, etc. Which is a problem with gold. A Krugerrand (which was the dominant gold coin for a good while) is too big for most transactions. Are people going to know/trust smaller gold coins? And non-coins will be even less trusted. People who know and care about such things know how to read a [touchstone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchstone_(assaying_tool)), which while not convenient for every single transaction allows people to quickly gauge at least a rough idea of the gold/silver/copper content of a sample. That said, I agree that there’s a severe markdown on “junk” metal- random jewelry, etc.- and most serious traders will only touch coins and ingots of known providence. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/67 "2019-10-02T19:26:32Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I figured it out as a kid. Somehow I got a bottle of Potassium Nitrate when I simply asked my Mom for some for my chemistry set. No idea how she came up with it, but she did. When I was a kid, I read children’s biographies of famous Americans and I remember the one about Thomas Edison and how as a boy, he had quite an elaborate chemistry lab going. I think this was in the basement of his family’s house and then later, on the train on which he was working as a telegraph operator. (I vaguely remember an explosion on the train caused by one of his experiments.) Even when I was a kid, this seemed crazy dangerous to me. ---
**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 2, 2019, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/68 "2019-10-02T19:29:30Z")
Before modern safety equipment was developed and mandated, the train was at least as hazardous as the chemistry lab. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/69 "2019-10-02T20:19:03Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > People still trade now all the time. And the value of gold won’t be just it’s intrinsic value, its value will be it’s use in trading. People will very rapidly associate a useful value to gold so they can trade freely. It is much easier to trade for some universally accepted fungible item than to try to work out individual direct deals trading guns for apples, and hammers for horses. > > Assuming a hunting rifle is very valuable then what would you offer someone for theirs? The rifle maintains it’s value and keeps on providing a return on the investment. What would you have that is not a consumable to trade it for? Maybe something like a plow would be an equivalent, but then the gun owner would have to want a plow. If he trades for gold he can trade the gold for something he does want. I’m not saying people won’t trade or have forgotten how to trade, only that as far as assessing the relative worth of something, the worth of gold is pretty abstract and not at all intuitive and so cannot be strictly measured in how much one needs one than the other (how many gold bricks do I need to keep warm through the winter?). Even if people have some recollection that gold has value (or is supposed by others to have value) in trade, their inexperience in exchanging goods and services for gold, coupled with the lack of practical use for it, will tend to obscure its value. Right now, of course an ounce of gold is worth a hunting rifle. In fact, it’s worth several hunting rifles (and, yes, I’ve cheated: I’ve looked it up online as if this isn’t the end of the world after all). But when there is no other currency to compare the value of gold and the value of a rifle to, even if it weren’t the post-apocalypse and you just wandered up to someone on the street today with a proposition of “I’ll trade an ounce of gold for your hunting rifle,” would they look at that tiny nugget in your hand and recognize that they were being offered a tremendous bargain? Or would they shrug, and say, “Got any cash?” (again, this is if the transaction were to take place today, pre-apocalypse, but with some contrived scenario in which there is no internet) I suggest they’d do the latter in most case. Because a man knows the value of a hunting rifle in cash, bought and paid for with the same, and he knows whether or not he really needs it to put food on the table that night or any other night, but if he’s anything like me he has no concept of the value of a gold nugget of a given size. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/70 "2019-10-02T20:35:13Z")
Its easy to shape but I would rather have a lot of lead and brass. And my brain; a lot of good skills from my past are still stored up there. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/71 "2019-10-02T20:35:31Z")
As an aside (not a hijack), what WOULD be a good thing to have for trading when it all goes to Hell? Posters have suggested, ammunition, antibiotics, liquor, food, etc. I would think that, ideally, you would want something that is relatively cheap to purchase now, that would be more difficult to obtain after the Apocalypse, that would be useful and valued, that would be either easy to transport (to permit you to carry/conceal it) or very hard (to deter theft), and that would last for a long time without maintenance or replacement. Being a farmer is always good. Many years ago, being a blacksmith was a pretty good thing. You had a skill set that was in high demand by everyone and your equipment was not easy to pick up and carry away. Maybe being a miller and having a mill to process grains would be desirable? I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/72 "2019-10-02T21:24:24Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > As an aside (not a hijack), what WOULD be a good thing to have for trading when it all goes to Hell? Some sort of water filtration system(s) would probably be in very high demand shortly after people are forced to start drinking from streams, lakes, and…ponds. ETA: And fuggin Bic lighters by the _thousands_. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/73 "2019-10-02T21:34:53Z")
How about things like whole black peppercorns, dried bay leaves, nutmeg and other dry, whole spices? They keep well, and if there is an interruption to global trade, you’re probably not likely to get more pepper from India. Also, books on emergency and field medicine, in paper form. Parts needed to build or maintain shortwave radios. Emergency solar generating systems. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/74 "2019-10-02T22:03:04Z")
A breeding pair of gerbils would be nice. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/75 "2019-10-02T22:13:20Z")
There’s also the question of whether you’re thinking about the immediate aftermath of a world-ending disaster, or survival after a year, five years, ten years. I’d say flexibility and the ability to adapt would be helpful, as would having mechanical skills. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/76 "2019-10-02T22:56:32Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > A breeding pair of gerbils would be nice. Hamsters? Guinea Pigs would be better. They are tasty, I hear. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/77 "2019-10-02T23:53:54Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Hamsters? Guinea Pigs would be better. They are tasty, I hear. They are. I knew the right people to talk to at the last Latin-American Day at Kennywood. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/78 "2019-10-03T00:43:33Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I figured it out as a kid. Somehow I got a bottle of Potassium Nitrate when I simply asked my Mom for some for my chemistry set. No idea how she came up with it, but she did. I know how to make potassium nitrate. Never had to, I had access to some. The gunpowder formula is simple, but the process of making something more than just fireworks quality is tough. Making potassium nitrate in quantity would be a tedious process also. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/79 "2019-10-03T01:09:13Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > As an aside (not a hijack), what WOULD be a good thing to have for trading when it all goes to Hell? Posters have suggested, ammunition, antibiotics, liquor, food, etc. I would think that, ideally, you would want something that is relatively cheap to purchase now, that would be more difficult to obtain after the Apocalypse, that would be useful and valued, that would be either easy to transport (to permit you to carry/conceal it) or very hard (to deter theft), and that would last for a long time without maintenance or replacement. This was all in Mad Max, wasn’t it? Non-radioactive water, gasoline, sacks of grain, ammo, livestock, slaves… ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115/80 "2019-10-03T01:17:33Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Hamsters? Guinea Pigs would be better. They are tasty, I hear. Dale Gribble says \*gerbils. What that man says is gospel in prepper circles (or so it seems sometimes). \*only one of them is allowed to be a hamster. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-gold-matter-in-the-post-apocalypse/841115.md?page=5)