&gt; The primary standards of international trade during the mercantilist and merchant capitalist eras were silver bullion coins like the Spanish dollar.<p>Fine, but that doesn&#x27;t answer jwallaceparker&#x27;s point, which was that gold and silver had been used for money for thousands of years.  And weren&#x27;t ancient Greek coins electrum (gold&#x2F;silver)?<p>&gt; Formal gold specie standards arose during the 19th century by royal fiat and soon displaced other currencies.<p>Fine, but weren&#x27;t gold and silver used as coin long before that (even if not by formal royal fiat)?