Yes, I think that "currency" in some form not too dissimilar to what we have now would make a come back. Maybe not extremely fast, but it would make a come back. Probably at first more like the Krakow ration chits, where it is backed by some form of food. I remember some PA short story that one state level sucessor government had "corn bucks" which represented some amount of corn (I'll try and find the title). Other things that the temporary currency could be backed by might include ammunition, salt, equipment, or other commodities. Wasn't there something like that in one of the episodes of Jericho? There was something like this (local chits for various things) in a PA book titled Among Madmen if my memory is serving me correctly. Later the chits/credits/whatever it's called might be backed or represent an amount of labor. But most of these currencys would need to be backed by something. Only later would fiat currency make a come back and only once people had a trust of the issuer.
Yes, I think that such backed local currencys would be accepted, after a while, in other places, probably at a discount and only of course from places that had earned a reputation for honoring their currency.
Just a few things on gold as currency. The majority of the gold "currency" would probably be in the form of jewelry. That's how most people encounter (and own) gold. I think that a lot of businesses would have scales, and probably use grams as the unit of measure. The jewelry could evn be broken or damaged, but would generally need to have the proof mark still visible. The actual coins and ingots would probably be well accepted and more valuable, but also more rare.
Also, silver would be much more common for use as currency than gold. Lots more folks have some, maybe a lot of sterling (.925) jewelry, and more than a fair number have at least a few silver coins around (at least in the US). For that matter, you can still come across silver coins in change from stores and banks. I usually come across around 4 coins a year in loose change, and when I go seriously looking for them from banks will find 10 to 20 (40%) half dollars a year.
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