On the longevity of metal standards (opens in new tab)

In a recent post, I noted that in modern history -- in a long durée sense -- there have been essentially three monetary standards. Repeating myself, a silver standard, dominated by the Spanish silver peso (which anchored global trade and is shown above),* and was mostly managed by Italian (Genoese) and then Dutch bankers (Bank of Amsterdam), a gold standard, dominated by British pound (that anchored the Industrial Revolution, 1st and 2nd), and was managed by the Bank of England, and a fiat st...