A lesson from the gold standard

``The pound was "as good as gold", as the saying went, and the pound banknote was accepted around the globe as a substitute for gold itself -- but not always. The paper-pound was willingly accepted until there was a banking or financial crisis, which meant the quality of the currency and the reliability of banks became questioned. At those moments -- which occurred with surprising frequency -- there was a rush to gold because of its safe haven attributes.''