I see gold as the premium currency when things start to stabilize again. During a Crash/Panic/Depression, it's value probably wouldn't be much, because it isn't really usable in its own form for what would be currently needed.

But if you're already storing food, seeds, fertilizers, tools, how-to books, meds and first aid materials, just settle down and forget your supply of gold for a while.

If you've got some old gold jewelry and no supplies, it would make more sense to sell the gold today ($1746/oz), turn it into cash, and then buy food, seed, fertilizers, tools and how-to books. Right now and possibly soon, these things will have more value to you than gold.

Once you're fairly self-sufficient, and your kids are playing down by the nearby river and run home to show you these pretty, heavy, goldy lumps they found in the river bank, it's a different situation, and you would/should handle it differently.

Sue

That's when you test for hardness. Drop a calibrated weight on the material in question & examine with a calibrated magnifier.