Seems nobody wants to look beyond the cosmetic.
Take gold, for a start: in Spain, you will see that just about every gypsy that crosses your palm path is festooned with gold; they glister! The same can be said for many societies that precede our western idea of banking - the banks can fail, but when you take it with you, you can only get killed for what you have, and then you don't give a toss.
Silver: I remember well that many women in India, admittedly the poor of which there are millions more than you can imagine, all wear the thickest silver anklets that they can buy. It is, again, their life savings, inheritance, whatever you want to call it , but it represents all they own in the world.
Then, think beyond bling and the social consciences that can make some resent that: Industry. You would have no mobile telephones, probably no digital cameras, none of those toys that depend on clean and non-corroding contacts, none of the technology that keeps you holiday flight airborne.
Finally, just ask yourself why, when things go wrong, gold becomes the refuge, the safe haven for government (citizens') resources? We of the UK would have been able to do the same thing, except that our dumbass socialist leader (when chancellor) sold off the stocks we had at the lowest price going - speculation really gone nuts! But who, apart from old guys like me, remembers anything?
And even now, with a new colour of hybrid government, the same voting mass is unable and/or unwilling to accept that it is impossible to pay out more than you take in. France? Christ, they strike and think it helps!
Rob C