Ancient Coins: Coin Prohibition: a Historical Parallel
Ancient Coins: Coin Prohibition: a Historical Parallel Ancient Coins Musings by a dealer in ancient coins concerning his unusual profession, cultural property law, efforts by archaeologists to make collecting illegal, and related issues Monday, August 08, 2011 Coin Prohibition: a Historical Parallel Last evening (Sunday, August 7) the History Channel featured RUMRUNNERS, MOONSHINERS AND BOOTLEGGERS, a well-presented exposition of the immense difficulties faced by US authorities attempting to enforce national Prohibition during the period in which it was the law of the land (1919-1933). Despite the efforts of filmmakers to portray federal agents such as Elliott Ness as noble heroes, the reality was that moonshiners and thugs like Al Capone had great success in corrupting law enforcement officers and evading the scrutiny of those who could not be corrupted.