I think some of you guys are forgetting how long gold, silver and gemstones have had value. Long before there were computers or established, stable currency there were gold, silver and gemstones. They have intrinsic value because people like shiny metals and pretty rocks.
Do you think it really mattered to the Egyptians that they couldn't use gold for their weapons when they captured it and revelled over it? What about the Sumerians? What was their currency and how did that exchange with the currency that the Hittites used? Basically it didn't matter what their currency was....he who had the most treasure had the most "wealth". He with the most "wealth" usually had a lot of followers and was therefore powerful.
Sure lead is going to be more worthwhile for fighting. Sure gasoline or oil is going to be more worthwhile for travel. But never underestimate the value of someone saying "five thousand bars of gold" and seeing how many people clamor over themselves to get to that gold, even if there's not a currency in place to say it's worth 7.6 million. With gold or silver, or even gemstones, you can CREATE your own currency and then such a thing immediately has value. If my cantonment says that in order to get fed you have to pay 1 silver piece of eight, and someone comes into my cantonment because there's food in there, they'll soon discover that silver is worth something. I don't have to say it's worth 20 dollars. I just need to say it's worth something. Want a box of ammo for your rifle? Pay 2 gold medallions. *Whammo* Gold has worth now. Want to live in a house protected within a fortified cantonment? It'll cost you 5 ounces of diamonds.
Sure you can try to take it by force, but unless you've got an endless supply of ammo to pull from, you might eventually find yourself needing some loot in the form of precious metals or precious stones.
So try not to think in terms of sheer usefulness. Think in terms of greed, power and vanity. Those things existed long, long before computers, catalytic converters, electricity or bullets.
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