In the aforementioned book by Adam Ferguson in post WWI Austria ( 1920s Vienna) where inflation was rampant paper money was only used to purchase government rations, a gold watch would buy four sack of potatoes and a grand piano bought only a sack of wheat flour THUS better start canning and pickling.... PS I am not a prepper.
Inflation adjusted 2014 value of MONA LISA based on its insurance valuation from its last visit to US in 1963 is $2.5B... PS from a speech given at Google by Michael Mauboussin ( Head of Global Financial Strategies at Credit Suisse).
Also read Mark Blyth's book (2012),Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea, Oxford: Oxford University Press