So, when society collapses, and some folks have a few small bars of gold stashed away in their basements, how will bartering with that bar of gold be accomplished?
I can imagine a gold coin will have some small nominal value, say $100-$200, but a solid bar of gold will be very hard to break apart. What's a poor boy to do? I certainly don't think it's a wise idea to trade a small bar of gold for a loaf of homemade bread. How will that transaction be completed?
Yea, I know some redneck gold hoarders will step in and roll their eyes at my question because they've already broken their bars down into something, but please tell me what that something is.
Thanks.
It does not take "redneck gold hoarders" to break down gold bars... I guess you don't know that gold is one of the most malleable metals and can easily be broken apart and weighed right? A solid bar of gold would NOT be very hard to break apart and weigh, you can use a rock if you didn't have a hammer... Nothing special needed to deal with gold except for blunt tools and scales to weigh it out.
Gold is hard to break down once it's mixed with other metals. In fact, it's often melded with other metals like copper to make it harder to break apart. Jewelry that's pure gold would be easy to deform...