[spaceman_2020]

What’s surprising to me is that cultures all across the world agreed that this shiny metal was valuable and could be readily exchanged anywhere for goods and services.

We know that gold is valuable today because of its distribution, availability and metallurgical properties. But random tribes who haven’t even seen an iron tool somehow decided that this shiny metal was scarce and valuable enough to hoard and desire.

Is it something in the metal itself?

[Wytwwww]

It's shiny and very easy to work and doesn't rust. The complete opposite of iron, which didn't really become that widespread until the bronze age trade routes collapsed (tin and copper aren't found in the same place). Bronze was also a much nicer metal than iron back in those days. Much, much easier to work and about as strong.

[eszed]

Incorruptible - as in, doesn't rust - and is commonly found in a state that doesn't need to be refined.

[fl7305]

> Is it something in the metal itself?

Yes. I never understood it myself, until the first time I held a heavy gold necklace. The feeling is hard to describe.

[spaceman_2020]

I've felt that too. But then I wonder if this is a true feeling or if its just cultural training - countless stories have consistently told me that gold is valuable.

[galaxyLogic]

> Is it something in the metal itself?

Gold can be easily melted to combine larger and smaller portions together or split them up. It is "inert" meaning does not easily react with anything else so you don't lose it too easily. It is a great store of value.

And think why does Bitcoin cost so much? Because of its scarcity.

[hiddencost]

Scarcity is actually an incredibly valuable property. Control over gold production meant control over the money supply. Otherwise, anyone could inflate your currency into oblivion.

[WalterBright]

Just imagine what would happen if the money supply consisted of pieces of paper that the government could print any time it wanted more money!

[namaria]

Wait until you learn that banks can just make more money by increasing numeric values in databases. "Money supply" is very poorly understood in armchair denouncements of modern central banking.

[WalterBright]

> Wait until you learn that banks can just make more money by increasing numeric values in databases.

I know how fractional reserve banking works. That "more money" is represented by the collateral for the loan.

[jamiek88]

Unprecedented wealth and living standards?

it’s not very evenly distributed wealth but our enormous economies are not limited by supplies of an arbitrarily valuable metal.

All money is imaginary anyway.

[WalterBright]

You can't print wealth from a printing press.

[fennecfoxy]

Probably mostly because it was scarce. Additionally because it would've been the only metal that didn't tarnish compared to other metals that did.

I mean gold has always been and will always be (until we start space mining I guess) scarce, can see similar effects for things like aluminium, for example here: https://clintonaluminum.com/aluminum-was-once-worth-more-tha....

So based on that I would say it was purely thanks to scarcity. Money is used to represent x human effort/time after all; it takes time to find the gold, then time to process it. But the same applies to various other weird currencies used in the world like seashells/beads: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_money#:~:text=Shell%20mo....

I feel like there's an intermediate step with these where seashells/beads/similar objects had cultural significance and therefore value because they had to be found (and sometimes worked into beads). It's a step from pure trading of useful items like a knife or an item of clothing to an intermediate currency like seashells, then to precious metals (which are still valuable even if melted down) to what we have now (currency as a symbol of trust that the currency is worth what it's worth as enforced by a government or some other system).

[kylebenzle]

Have you never held or owned any gold? Its amazing. Its like really hard clay, but its metal, AND doesnt rust, its amazing! Its hard to understand the question to be honest, I mean, its GOLD!

[helsinkiandrew]

Gold is both easy to work with and make finely detailed jewellery and is THE shiny metal - a gold broach, or anything gold would have shone out on your clothing far more than any other metal.

See this video of a Roman era coin being unearthed by a metal detectorist - untarnished or corroded after 2000 years:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsmF3p4jVV0&t=10s

[imtringued]

How many products from the Roman empire does this buy you? None? It didn't store anything. It's not a store of value at all.