The Tulip Blip
Tulips came to Holland in 1594 from Persia and Asia. They caused a storm because
people loved their gardens and this was something flowery and new. As a
consequence there was a huge demand for tulips. They became a status symbol.
Demand vastly exceeded supply and the price for tulips rocketed. Botanists
created beautiful hybrids of bulbs which made them even more desirable. A virus
(the mosaic) made the bulbs petals have a flame effect which increased their
beauty further.
It is said that someone traded:
a silver drinking cup, four cows, 8000 lbs of wheat, twelve sheep, 16000 lbs of
rye, eight pigs, two hogsheads of wine, four casks of beer, two tons of butter,
a suit of clothes and a bed for one Viceroy tulip bulb.
It is said that some bulbs were being bought and sold ten times in one day!
"Tulipmania" had started. People started selling their houses, their livestock
and even their businesses in order to buy even just one of these bulbs! Almost
everyone in Holland got caught up in this fever even chimney sweeps! Records
show that in just one month the price of a bulb went up twenty fold!
However shortly after, the crash occurred: at an auction a bulb did not sell in
the usual way. People began to realise that the price for bulbs couldn’t keep
going up. This caused a huge panic and very soon the value of bulbs tumbled.
Merchants became beggars. Tulips became very difficult to sell - they were no
longer an asset. The government was very reluctant to interfere - in the end it
had to as the country was going to collapse. It took many years for the country
to recover.
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