Reply #44: In SE Asia and China, regions that have a constant history of tumult... [View All]

[clixtox]

gold jewelry has been used as an alternative to the "banking system" and to backstop fiat money when it loses fungibility due to hyper-inflation, "regime change" and other calamities for centuries.

These countries, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, China and Hong Kong, Burma, etc., especially the many residents of Chinese ethnicities out side of China, have used 23+ carat (or karat) gold jewelry, often linked necklaces and bracelets, and small 5 gram and 10 gram sized "bars" of "24" carat gold as "insurance" for potential disruptions.

The links of the gold jewelry can be easily removed and sold in "jewelry" shops, which are ubiquitous, or traded for commodities if the local currency loses viablity/fungibility. These gold "chains" are sold for a very small premium above the intrinsic/market gold value because of the low wage structure in these areas.

These traditional style "Chinese" gold jewelry shops are located in "Chinatowns" around the world, but the "workmanship" premium is, of course, higher in the "developed" countries.