Right after the Nixon administration allowed U.S. gold ownership, there were discussions all over the map about gold's usefulness in modern day fiat economies. The best comment was that gold was "stored sweat", while the worst was Paul Samuelson (Nobel Memorial Prize winner in Economic Sciences) stating that gold only had value because you could trade it for U.S. dollars. Others predicted that gold would go "as high as $350 an ounce".
I fell into that last category, buying in at $40 an ounce and bailing at $350 - there was NO WAY it would go any higher. Got back in when it hit $450 and rode it to $800 and bailed out again, saying the same thing. Luckily, that one worked out.
I've stayed out of it since, but wished I had a time machine set to 2005. Ah well. :-)
Exactly, gold and silver cannot be created so they become a storage of labor.