I don't see it as a dichotomy. Certainly if a formal currency loses an even crudely discernible forward time value from say, the consummation of a transaction today, towards an anticipated transaction tomorrow, then I will walk away from that formal tender.
In such an event I would focus all of my efforts on materiel items, a barter economy. You, it seems, value gold highly in a barter economy, and there is much historical precedent to support that.
I will likely migrate more towards fuel, seeds, yards of Gortex cloth, steal nails, rope, good ash-wood handles, and so on.
There will be those that continue to subscribe to formal currency as a means to formally maintain exchange value for previous productivity (gold e.g.) but I believe I would migrate rather swiftly to to barter exchange in the absence of a system of stored value in some agreed upon medium that is for most purposes useless (gold).
Again, the historical precedence for gold and similar such commodities maintaining exchange value and to serve as a reservoir to reclaim previous efforts of productivity is a sound one, but I am more of a functionalist. I will trade you my leather for your nails. As a fastener of board to board, your gold will not do.
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