Spanish silver coins were still in general circulation in this country until around the Civil War. Back then, they made change over at the blacksmith's shop, cutting coins into eighths when needed. Of course, most merchants of the time, especially out west, had a fairly acurate scale on the counter instead of a credit card machine.

Sure, it's difficult for us now to think of gold and silver as money, but by definition, what we have now is currency. And it has to keep moving to keep its value. Thing is, many investors around the world still see Au and Ag as money. The World's Central Banks still believe it. In the late 90's, they were selling gold onto the market so fast they had to come to an agreement to not sell too much too fast. Gordon Brown's sale of the UK's hoard marked the bottom of the bear market at just under 300 dollars. Over the last half of this decade, the Central Banks have become net buyers of gold, and in huge amounts (they buy and sell in tons!)

I'm expecting both markets will move to their inflation adjusted highs.