Sorry to disagree buddy, but did you ever try to spend real gold on the street. The majority of the public won’t take it. I’ll stick with the currency the other fellow mentioned but in a real emergency I’d be trading extra boxes of ammo.
In normal times, you are exactly right.
When traveling I often keep a 1/4 ounce gold coin in my back pocket. When paying for items at a Convenience Store I sometimes hold it out with the question, “would you rather I pay in gold or Federal Reserve Notes?” Almost all the time, this totally blows the cashier away. Once, the store manager knew his money. He replied, “I have to take the Notes because I cannot make proper change if I accepted the gold.”
But in times of social stress, there is no doubt that some items, like ammo or gasoline or gold will have real trading value where paper money will be, well, just paper. We are, after all, talking about what items should make up the contents of an ideal “go bag”.
In any situation where paper money is worthless, the top barter goods will be tobacco, alcohol, and ammo. Forget gold, silver, and Beanie Babies collectibles