From the 1830s to the 1930s, almost all the important currencies were on the gold standard and were backed by gold. The British sovereign had a gold content of .2354 oz, and was minted in seven countries including Australia, Britain, South Africa and Canada. In other words, the whole world was on the gold standard. This was a period of extraordinary stability among world currencies. But war is the great destroyer of currencies. When nations wanted to spend more than the discipline of gold would allow, they turned to fiat currencies and printed what they needed out of a computer … Continue reading War Is the Great Destroyer of Currencies