[zvolsky]

One of my relatives, uncle George, was fired ~30 years ago. His most valuable possession was a gold watch that baroness Coudenhove gave to a her maid 2-3 generations earlier. I don't remember who exactly the maid was, but she was somehow related to the family. In order to raise funds to buy his own tipper truck, George went to the Charles Bridge in Prague and found a buyer for the watch, a German tourist. The money was at least 50% of the price of the truck. These were the first steps on a long journey leading to a successful business.

This was in a country with high inflation that's just gone through a regime change. Did he get a good price for the watch? Yes, at that moment, the truck was more valuable than the watch.

[ethbr1]

Underappreciated point! What makes jewelery a good store of value? Value:volume ratio.

Three trucks full of wet concrete have value too, but they're a helluva lot less convenient to bring with you in a bag on the run.

Jewelry is (a) small, (b) valuable, (c) widely exchangeable for currency or goods.

Sure, you're going to take a haircut on the price, depending on how screwed up your immediate environment is, but there will be some buyers at some non-zero price.