Its usefulness as a metal/ornament is not why it's priced as it is. That's due to rarity, authenticity, and acceptance as a value store. And that's just another way of saying it's good for debt accounting. Bitcoin, seashells, obsidian, and gold share(d) those properties. The price is what people are willing to pay for N units in the literal or de facto “ledger”.
The question is, if gold did not have properties that made it useful as an ornament and symbol of high status (and therefore high mate value), would it have ever become accepted as a store of value?
