In early May, the price of most metals was high enough that a US nickel was worth more than US$.05. Same with the penny. Other coins weren't far off face value in metal weight.

World population isn't decreasing, so demand will continually go up. Probably some major peaks and valleys. But for the most part, non-reproducable commodities should perform a lot like the stock market. Higher and higher prices until alternatives are invented.

Between now and the alternatives, we've got a world full of coinage that should be superceded in value by it's metal weight. Thousands and thousands of tons of it. Which gets me wondering. Would the world then go back to a metal money standard for a while? The increasing cost of metals could bouy major world currencies in that their coin currency actually has rising physical value. Most world currencies would increase in value right along with higher prices. And that would somewhat stave off inflation, no?

It wouldn't last for more than a decade or so. Coinage could get pretty scarce. And electonic transactions are coming on fast. But there is a period of time where world currencies could rise right along with everything else.

May have some interesting implications.

Cheers