Tulipomania was a period in the 1630s in the Netherlands where tulip bulb prices rose rapidly and then crashed, leaving many investors ruined. Speculation and futures trading in rare tulip varieties grew to obsession as prices rose steadily throughout 1635-1636. By early 1637, bulb prices had risen so high that few could afford to enter the market, leading to a crash. When trading ceased in February 1637 after no bidders could be found at lower prices, bulb values had fallen to as little as 5% of their peak values, devastating many investors. This event was condemned and left legal disputes that were still being resolved years later.

1. TulipomaniaThe Great Dutch Tulip-Trading Craze of 1634-37 Mike Dash

2. Alkmaar, 5 February 1637 To Alkmaar, in the North Quarter of Holland To an auction of the estate of a tavern-keeper, Wouter Winkel, for the benefit of his seven children Fierce bidding raised 90,000 guilders The goods sold: flower bulbs

3. Stranger from the east Wild tulips from the Celestial Mountains Natural barriers The unfinished article Symbols of spring, life and fertility Brought west by Turkish nomads, c9th-10th Venerated in Persia by 1050 ‘When a young man gives one to his mistress, he gives her to understand, by the general color of the flower, that he is on fire with her beauty; and by the black base of it, that his heart is burnt to a coal.’ John Chardin

4. ‘Acceptable and beautiful’ The Ottomans A holy flower Depicted in the Garden of Eden One of five precious flowers An imperial symbol The Abode of Bliss Paradise gardens and professional gardeners Istanbul tulips 1500 varieties A council of florists to sit in judgment on new cultivars

5. ‘Acceptable and beautiful’ ‘The Light of Paradise’ ‘The Matchless Pearl’ ‘Increaser of Pleasure’ ‘Rose of the Dawn’ ‘Diamond’s Envy’ ‘Pomegranate Lance’ ‘Delicate Coquette’

6. ‘Acceptable and beautiful’ ‘Curved as the form of the new moon, her color is well apportioned, clean, well-proportioned; almond in shape, needle-like, ornamented with pleasant rays, her inner leaves as a well, as they should be, her outer leaves a little open, as they should be, the white ornamented leaves are absolutely perfect. She is the chosen of the chosen.’ Seyh Mehmed Lalezari, Acceptable and Beautiful

7. Clusius From Turkey to Europe Trade goods and gifts Augsberg, 1559 Antwerp 1562 Vienna 1572 Frankfurt 1593 France 1598 Seen in Mechelen by Carolus Clusius, 1565

8. Theft Travels to Vienna 1573 Receives tulip seeds from imperial ambassador to the Ottoman court To Leiden 1592 to establish a hortus academicus Thefts from the garden in 1596, 1598 ‘And so the 17 provinces were amply stocked.’

9. Varieties The most diverse of all flowers known to Clusius 14 different species More than 30 varieties known by 1602 Divided into three broad groups

10. Varieties Rosen Most numerous Crimson flakes or flames on a white petal The more delicate the red, the finer and more coveted the flower – from ‘rude’ all the way to ‘superbly fine’ Existed in about 400 varieties by 1635

11. Varieties Violetten Purple or lilac on white Less common than rosen tulips; about 70 varieties Also existed as lacken - white on a lilac background

12. Varieties Bizarden Red on a yellow background Least common and least coveted of the three groups About 24 varieties Could also be purple or brown on yellow

13. Smoke and mirrors Coveted and collected by the wealthiest regents and merchants Netherlands the world’s first developed economy A fast-growing society of refugees Rich trades, banking, the Amsterdam stock exchange… even a futures market Yet a flat, drab country with a Calvinist aversion to displays of ostentation and wealth in clothing or personal possessions Tulips one of God’s creations… fitted into fashion for country houses and the beautification of the countryside with gardens

14. Smoke and mirrors Planted formally So scarce and expensive, often one flower per bed Optical illusions used to multiply the number of flowers on display

15. Semper Augustus Chronicle of Nicholas Wassenaer Only 12 examples known by 1624 Single owner Offers of 2,000 to 3,000 guilders per bulb were summarily rejected Valued at up to 12,000 guilders a bulb by 1636

16. Why tulips? New Rare and slow to propagate Hardy and suited to sandy soil Process of breaking unpredictable, & weakens flower More intensely colored & better defined than any other flower before or since

17. Florists By 1630, a small but well-established market for tulips Connoisseurs and growers Large sums paid for the rarest flowers Easy money? Dutch society and Dutch character

19. Boom 1633. A house in Hoorn sold for three rare tulips; a farm in Friesland for a parcel of bulbs Stories drew in new investors often artisans mortgaging the tools of their trades Bulbs still scarce; rapid acceleration in prices, and more varieties began to be traded

20. Boom Admirael de Man From 15 guilders to 175 Root en Gheel van Leyden From 45 guilders to 550 Generalissimo From 95 guilders to 900 • This acceleration continued through 1635 until, by the winter of 1636, some bulbs could double in value in little more than a week.

21. At the Sign of the Golden Grape To understand this means understanding the way the trade was conducted. Not an elite trade - at the margins of Dutch economic life Traders were artisans, trading in tavern ‘colleges’ By auction, but with wijnkoopsgeld (wine money)

22. At the Sign of the Golden Grape And increasingly unreal Florists did not value tulips for their beauty Had no intention of growing them themselves So wanted to trade all year round, not as previously during the lifting season In all parties’ interests to maximize volume and profit - so system of trade by weight evolved And a futures market Windhandel

23. At the Sign of the Golden Grape The futures trade 10% deposit down, balance payable at lifting time Sell the promissory note - no risk Take the example of goudas at 100 guilders a bulb… A man with 50 guilders capital could buy 5 bulbs If by lifting time price had doubled he was worth 1,000 guilders But if they halved, he lost 200 guilders…

24. At the Sign of the Golden Grape Perhaps 3,000 or 4,000 traders involved across a dozen towns Bricklayers, farmers, woodcutters, coffee-grinders, glass-blowers, millers Weavers mortgaged tools Payment often in kind And as prices rose steadily, tulip trading became a national obsession

25. From the notarial records of Wouter de Jonge (1635)

26. Value for money A flower worth 3000 guilders could be exchanged for… 8 fat pigs & 4 fat oxen 12 fat sheep 24 tons of wheat & 48 tons of rye 2 hogsheads of wine 4 barrels of beer 2 tons of butter & 1,000 pounds of cheese A silver drinking cup A pack of clothes A bed with mattress & bedding A ship

27. Bust By winter of 1636-37 the market was fast reaching saturation Growing concern at the approach of lifting time Chaotic chains of ownership Doubts about identification of bulbs All bulbs, even gemeene goed for which there was no actual demand, in play Prices had become so high few could now afford to enter market, limiting amounts of new capital

28. Bust The crash came in Haarlem on the first Tuesday of February 1637 1250 guilders asked for a basked of witte croonen or switsers No bidders at 1250 guilders No bidders at 1100 guilders No bidders at 1000 guilders Panic And a simple impulse: sell

29. Condemnation Panic spread from Haarlem to Amsterdam and the other tulip towns Trade all but ceased - prices now 5%, sometimes 1%, of their peak A tulip worth 5,000 guilders sold for 50 Leaving tangled chains of ownership and debt Those worst off: the growers

30. Condemnation An assembly of growers meets at Amsterdam Compromise: purchases to 30 November to be paid in full Purchases thereafter settled with payment of 10% of agreed price Disillusionment and condemnation - a flood of ribald and moralistic broadsides

32. Legal process Compromise fails; appeals to the States The States refers the matter to the Court of Holland The Court refers the matter to the towns All disputes suspended pending a resolution Few cases ever were resolved In Haarlem, an arbitration committee of ‘friend-makers’ from January 1638

33. The bubble burst Cases heard into 1639 The painter Jan Van Goyen, pursued by his creditors, then his creditors’ heirs, dies in 1656 still owing 897 guilders from his involvement with the tulip trade Market returns to equilibrium in 1640s with a few connoisseurs dealing direct with the remaining growers for the most superbly fine bulbs A few large deals still made - Aert Huybertsz pays 850 guilders for a Manassier, summer 1637 By 1643, prices average 1/6th of those of February 1637

34. Lessons not learned A mania for hyacinths in 1737 In dahlias in France in 1838 In red spider lilies in China in 1985 Dutch domination of the bulb trade continues Istanbul tulips and the tulips of Golden Age Holland become extinct; mosaic virus identified and isolated Today the oldest variety dates only to 1650s