Why do many preppers make it a priority to obtain gold and/or silver coins?

In theory at least both gold and silver will hold some value to someone just as it has for the last several hundred years.

Most preppers also seem to think that a single event will mean the end of our country. It's actually quite rare for a nation to fall overnight unless attacked from the outside. More often than not when governments do fall it's after they've held on for several decades by their fingernails. Ours still has a long way to go before that happens.

If some fool came to my door wanting to trade me a gold coin for food it would end up being the most expensive food they ever bought. "Here you go bud, I'll give you a can of corn for that gold coin. Take it or leave it cause I can't make change."

Something tells me that they would wish they had spent their money on food storage instead of gold.

You could melt them down, and supposedly gold and silver (which is funny, because most "gold" and "silver" coins aren't really gold or silver, except in colour) would still be a precious commodity.