Entry in progress—B.P.
 
Wikipedia: Gold bug
Gold Bug is a (sometimes pejorative) term used to describe investors who are very bullish on buying the commodity gold (XAU - ISO 4217). It can also be used to refer to a person who opposes or criticizes the use of fiat currency and supports a return to the use of the Gold Standard or some other currency system based on the value of gold and other hard assets.
 
The term was popularized in the 1896 US Presidential Election, when William McKinley supporters took to wearing gold lapel pins, gold neckties, and gold headbands in a demonstration of support for gold against the “silver menace”, though the term’s original use may have been in Edgar Allan Poe’s 1843 story “The Gold-Bug,” about a cryptographic treasure map.
 
Wikipedia: The Gold-Bug
“The Gold-Bug” is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Set on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, the plot follows William Legrand, who was recently bitten by a gold-colored bug. His servant Jupiter fears him to be going insane and goes to Legrand’s friend, an unnamed narrator who agrees to visit his old friend. Legrand pulls the other two into an adventure after deciphering a secret message that will lead to a buried treasure.
 
Investopedia
What Does Gold Bug Mean?
An individual who is bullish on gold. Gold bugs believe that gold is still a stable source of wealth like it was during the years of the gold standard international currency system. A gold bug invests in gold for what he or she perceives as financial security in the event of a currency devaluation, and often also believes that the price of gold will continue to rise in the future.
 
(Oxford English Dictionary)
gold-bug n. U.S. 
(a) = gold beetle n. (Funk); 
(b) a plutocrat, millionaire; also ‘a political nickname for an advocate of a single (gold) standard’ (Funk).
   
12 January 1878, New York (NY) Herald, “Political Notes,” pg. 4:
The gold-bug is about to seat himself on the debris of the silver movement.
 
8 February 1878, St. Johnsbury (VT) Caledonian, pg. 1, col. 2:
The Shorter Financial Catechism, prepared for infants in Western schools—What is a gold-bug? A gold-bug is a man who believes in keeping the faith of the government inviolate.
(...)
—Philadelphia North American.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
The gold bug, a reply to some of the assertions and insinuations of “Coin’s financial school.”
Author: J Holland Wright
Publisher: [Fayetteville, Tenn., J.H. Wright, 1892?]
Edition/Format:  Book : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
The Gold bug and the working man : a dialogue explaining the British currency system and the effect on the working man of the proposed change : Reprinted from the “Financial times” of May 8th and 10th. 1895.
Publisher: London, 1895.
Edition/Format:  Book : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Gold bug or silver spider? : a speech delivered by a gold democrat at a republican flag raising in New Hampshire, September 25, 1896.
Author: Gold Democrat.
Publisher: Concord, N.H. : [s.n.], 1896.
Edition/Format:  Book : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
A warning to the American wage workers against the false pretences of gold-bug and silver-bug capitalism, and an appeal to rally under the banner of socialism.
Author: Socialist Labor Party.
Publisher: Boston : Gordee & K., [1896]
Edition/Format:  Book : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Silver, or, Gold bug’s financial kindergarten
Author: Mining engineer. (John Henry Piper)
Publisher: New York : Kindergarten Pub. Co., ©1896.
Series: Kindergarten series, vol. 1, no. 1.; Harvard social history/business preservation microfilm project., Project 2a ;, 23669. 
Edition/Format:  Book Microform : Microfilm : Master microform : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
A Nation of lunatics, proof submitted, the gold bugs are robbers, the gold standard dollar is a “jimmy” ... light for sound money workmen and gold bug business men
Author: A Workman
Publisher: [Washington? : s.n.], 1900.
Series: Pamphlets in American history., Finance ;, F 429. 
Edition/Format:  Book Microform : Microfiche : Master microform : English
 
Google Books
Smith’s Financial Dictionary
By Howard Irving Smith
New York, NY
1903 [1902]
Pg. 103:
Gold-bug. Political nickname for an advocate of the single gold monetary standard.