Why stop with a "gold" standard?  Anything whose value everyone agrees on can be used as a trade-standard, which is just what money is.  Why not include other precious metals, such as silver, platinum and copper?  All those could be matched with the basic value of gold.  

For that matter, why not include government property?  The US government owns and amazing amount of property, from actual land to mothballed battleships.  Not all of this could be traded away -- especially not to foreign interests -- but it could certainly be used to justify "promisory notes", which is exactly what paper money is.