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Gold and silver are not for use during the face-down part of the collapse, but are to contain wealth that will be stored until a replacement system in in place. That may be the next generation but the relative value will still be recognized.

I agree completely that you can't eat gold and no one would sell you a can of beans for a gold Britannia in the middle of a crisis. However, If I make it past that failure point in my society, I would much rather have a few Britannias buried in a can than not. That will give me a resource that has served as real money throughout history.

Back when a silver dime was a day's wage, an ounce of gold was a small fortune! I'm not going to care about that if I don't have food in the meantime.