ABSTRACT
The Ancient Greeks used to tell that humankind had gradually decayed from the almost divine golden race that was unaffected by age to a silver race, physically and morally inferior to the former. Then came the third race, of bronze, the fourth, and the fifth, of iron, the most degenerate one. Economists and historians have an opposite story about the evolution of the world monetary system during the nineteenth century: the classical gold standard gradually emerged from the imperfections of earlier ages which used less precious metals. It is said that the final struggle opposed gold to its main opponent, silver. But gold, being better, eventually triumphed. This chapter is an attempt to re-examine this myth.
