Consider the symbolism (or various symbolisms or meanings or emotional or psychological values) of the gilded coin in the story.
In the story, gilded objects represent the high-class status and wealth that Joe and Missie May are far from reaching and how it jeopardizes their marriage. Otis D. Slemmons was the “wealthy man” who opened a new ice cream parlor in town and wore gold fashion accessories. Before Joe and Missie May met him, they were content with their simple lives and perfectly fine with the little money they had saved up. When Joe comes home from his nightshift, they would usually play a game of cat and mouse where Joe would toss silver dollars and hide behind the bush while Missie goes and search for the coins. In addition, he would bring her small gifts such as candy kisses to show how much they were in love. However, Joe comes home from work early one day and finds his wife sleeping with Slemmons. Missie claims that she did this for the exchange for his golden watch charm.
In this case, Slemmons deceive Missie May into thinking that the gilded coins were real even though they were just cheap coins gilded to appear gold. Missie thought she could make Joe happy if she gave him gold just like what other women would do for Slemmons. Gilded coins are significant in this story because it helped to test the relationship between Joe and Missie May. Although it ruined their relationship, it is clear that Missie took her action, not because of covetousness but because she really loved Joe and wanted what was best for him. As a result, the yellow coin meant nothing to them but what meant the most was their love for each other which eventually led to their reconciliation.
You made a good point about how the gilded coin was meant to test the relationship between Joe and Missie May. On the outside, it looks like Missie May is cheating on Joe because she doesn’t love Joe anymore and wants to be with Slemmons. However the real reason Missie May cheated on Joe with Slemmons was to ultimately help Joe by taking riches from Slemmons and giving it to her relationship with Joe. In my response to the same prompt, I mentioned that one of the definitions of gilded was “to give an attractive but often deceptive appearance to” and this applies to the case of Joe and Missie May’s relationship, where May isn’t actually cheating on Joe out of lost love but actually to support their love.