What would be the effect on gold prices if the US returned to the gold and silver standard for our money?
It would go up as measured in buying power, because demand would suddenly go way up.
That said, rather than going back to a flawed gold standard, much better to return to our Constitutional system which is the mere acknowledgement that only gold and silver is money. All the Federal Government was authorized to do was to put money in coin form (They were prohibited from printing a paper currency of any sort, which was left entirely to private enterprise to make available), but folks remained free to contract in gold and silver in any form they chose. That was called the "free coinage system," not the gold standard. That's what the Founders wanted for Americans.
