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Of course the purchasing power of gold will fluctuate. There have been times that silver was more valuable than gold, so people would keep their gold in their purse and pay using silver. It's the market at work. The price mechanism adjusting prices.
The important thing here is not how much the value of gold will fluctuate after an economic collapse, the important thing is having goods that can be traded easily in exchange for other goods. Historically gold (see #57) has become one of those universally accepted means of exchange (= money). Optimally one would have both gold, silver and other goods that can easily be traded.
Look at the Weimar republic or Zimbabwe. The official paper currency was/is good for one thing: wiping you ass.
The money you have in your pocket right now does not only gain or lose value based on market conditions, but it constantly loses value due to the actions of governments and banks that essentially counterfeit it.
It think it was DWB who posted earlier in this thread about Argentina. The Argentinian peso devaluation is a very interesting episode in recent history to study. It gives you a good idea of what happens when a nation's currency loses value: the richest 10% that have their assets in foreign banks/currencies, gold, real estate etc get richer. 90% gets poorer.
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