Some millenniums B.C. ago, gold was valued in the form of jewelry, even the gold coins used by the Egyptian pharaohs back then being perceived as ornaments and, therefore, offered as gifts. Only much later, in the sixth century B.C., gold was established as a valid monetary exchange vehicle in the form of trading coins. And, as hard as it seems for us to believe, as recently as the last century, gold and silver coins were still in use as official currency. https://www.a1mint.com/