Hi, Merlyn -
Could happen, as it did in 1933, but back then more gold bullion/coins were held by individuals. A paper U.S. dollar was worth a dollar in gold bullion. Not so today. Since 1971 a paper U.S. dollar is only worth - wait for it - another paper U.S. dollar, not any gold at all.
So most gold is now held in vast amounts by banks, central banks, dealers and truly paranoid Gold Bugs who've been losing money on their holdings since 1989, now worth less than 1% of what they paid for gold back then.
More likely these days, it seems to me, is a concerted attempt to "crash" the price of gold bullion so that all the traders/holders/dealers with long positions will be forced to liquidate at the bottom - taking them out of the game and pooling the actual gold into the hands of a relative few who can trade in their hoarded cash for gold at the low point when no one else has cash to invest. I don't think "they're" particularly concerned about the small investor: you and me.
And then
voila! a New Currency emerges from the wreckage - they'll have no choice, we ain't going back to barter here. And that New Currency will be tied to - guess what? At a zillion New Clams per ounce.
My view, anyway.
Cheers,
Selene