Did God do a "sneaky" when he made silver and gold?

I was watching a cable show on money the other night, which explained that only two elements on the big table could be used for money (before paper money) -- silver and gold -- based on scarcity and inherent attractiveness (the more attractive conveniently being the scarcer).

Which leads to two questions.  What kind of markets -- local or world-wide -- would have been possible over the millennia if silver and gold had never existed? And, did God do a "sneaky" when he made silver and gold (such natural "noble" metals) to make early economic life much more possible?   

PS.  Supposing silver and gold had never existed, how would advocates of returning to the gold standard imagine the modern world would somehow make do?  :-)