If he had been smart, he would have sold it all at $1600, held the cash, then bought at $1200. But I bet most people didn’t do that.
If it ever comes to SHTF time, would a person be willing to fork over a gold coin they paid $1200 for to get a chicken or a quart of milk? If so, their stash won’t last too long.
That’s why I buy junk silver coins, dimes, quarters and half-dollars minted before 1965. They’re 90% silver and contain about 7.15 tr oz per $10 face value. Everybody recognizes the coins and they are visually distinguishable from cupro nickel coins
How many chickens or quarts of milk do you think you’ll be able to buy with a stack of worthless paper?
If I’m selling chickens and you come to me with worthless paper and the next guy in line has a gold piece......he and his family will be feasting that night while yours will be going through his garbage for the bones.
“If it ever comes to SHTF time, would a person be willing to fork over a gold coin they paid $1200 for to get a chicken or a quart of milk? If so, their stash won’t last too long.”
There are several issues the gold people miss. First, my big question. If money is so worthless compared to gold, why are they willing to give me something valuable(gold) for something worthless(paper)? Clearly they value the paper.
Next issue. Gold coins were actually exceedingly rare through history. It isn’t like people walked around with bags of the stuff. It was the equivalent of the $1000 bill. Rare, and not easy to use for the small stuff of every day life. Silver was far more common, among other types. Often it was not pure gold either. And coins were not the large things we know of today. Most were small. Think penny.
Last, in a SHTF situation, am I going to trade a chicken for a gold coin? That chicken if food. It is breeding stock, it has practical use. That gold coin does not. That gold coin is valuable only because someone else might give me something in exchange for it, simply because he is stupid enough to value useless metal over a valuable chicken.
Currency might make a comeback after a SHTF situation, as currency is easier than barter, but not during one. During one, people will only be interested in things of practical value.