"Tulipmania"

By 1620 tulips had spread in popularity across Europe and they were regarded as de rigueur for every palace garden in northern Europe. The Dutch went crazy about them… really crazy, some varieties could cost more than an Amsterdam house at that time. It was what was popularly known as the “Tulipmania”.

The Tulipmania started in Holland, one day in the early 1630’s when a singly in existence Viceroy tulip bulb variety, changed hands. Its price was paid in kind and was as follows : four fat oxen, eight fat pigs, twelve fat sheep ( had to be fat… thin is unacceptable), four loads of rye, four barrels of eight-florin beer, two loads of wheat, two hogsheads of wine, two barrels of butter… one thousand pounds of cheese, a complete bed, a suit of clothes and a silver beaker. The lot valued at 2,500 florins.

About the same time, one bulb of Semper Augustus variety which was very rare during those times ( only two horticulturists in Holland had them, one in Amsterdam and one in Haarlem ) was sold for twice the sum of the Viceroy tulip, plus a fine new carriage to go with it. A second single bulb of the same variety was considered as a lavish dowry. And a third was exchanged for a flourishing brewery (could be Heineken but yet have to research on that).

In the months of late 1636 to early 1637 there was a complete Tulipmania in the Netherlands.
To have tulips in one's home then, was as impressive as having a Ferrari in your garage today.
Finally the tulip lost its high value as the market was saturated with thousands of varieties (brought about by enterprising merchants who initiated the onslaught of tulip cultivation) and in the end it wasn’t as rare anymore and there came the “Tulip Crash”, the first economic bubble that burst. After recovery, and over the years the Dutch continued to cultivate tulips and it became a part of their culture. ~ Mizdemeanor.net

To see more of our plant images click HERE