I’m referring to the period following 1849 and the big gold (and silver) discoveries in the American West. The influx of new precious metal had an effect similar to that of inflation or counterfeiting: European business shipped far more product in our direction than they would’ve had they had a better idea of the volume of “incoming.”

I remember reading somewhere, years ago, that something similar occurred , where, after discovery of the Americas, Spain was able to buy lots of stuff from the rest of Europe at the “old,” prevailing gold value while they were bringing in tons from South and Central America and before the rest realized they were dealing with “cheaper” gold. (And even more striking is that most–about 90%–of all that they shipped went (and mostly remains) at the bottom of the seas.)