If you put one suitcase with $1 million dollars and another suitecase with $1 million in gold currency in 1912, just prior to the start of the Fed the dollars would be worth $1 million today and the gold dollars would be worth $23,200,000.
The question isn't whether gold is a better growth investment than the highest flying stock you can think of, or even of the Dow over a long period of time.
The question is whether it holds it's value better than fiat currency. The example above shows it does.
Timing is everything. It's what separates you from Jesse Livermore, for example.
That is the point I was making. You could have bought in to gold back in the 70's and made a fortune or gone bust, all depends on when you bought and when you sold.
The key here is that gold is not something you would want to buy and hold forever. It is a speculative thing. Like trading on the Stock market, you can go conservative or be a day trader. Different strokes...
My Mom bought gold, way back when and it did zip. I bought nice conservative mutual funds and am happily retired.