It is not certain who first introduced tulips to Europe from the Ottoman Empire, where they were regarded as a sign of sign of abundance and a barometer of wealth. Upon arrival in the Netherlands in the late 1590s, they were carefully cultivated through much trial and error in educational and private gardens. Their size and beauty made them instantly popular among all classes of society.
Blending Color Through Experimentation
The indigenous flowers of Europe in the early seventeenth century paled in comparison to the brilliantly colored tulip. A virus of the species causes variations of color in the petals, which engendered much experimentation in propagation among gardeners, florists and scientists. In the early 1620s, a spectacular specimen of tulip called Semper Augustus was cultivated in Holland during its Golden Age. This particular tulip was one of outstanding beauty, with crimson petals accented with white stripes.
The Process from Bulb to Bloom
Grown from bulbs, tulips are propagated through both seeds and buds. It takes seven to twelve years to grow tulips from seed, and though bulbs produce two or three clones, the mother bulb seldom has a life span of more than three years. After each blooming cycle, the bulbs are removed from the ground in June and must be replanted by September to lie dormant over the winter months. Thus the slow, painstaking process of cultivating these precious gems of intensely concentrated color created a speculative market where the high demand outpaced the low supply.
Tulips Traded on Amsterdam Stock Exchange
Tulip bulbs were sold by the pound and florists became professional tulip traders on the scale of modern-day stock brokers. By 1624, tulip bulbs traded at a higher price than gold and were frequently used as graft in political and social bribes. During that same year, the Amsterdam citizen who possessed the only specimen of Semper Augustus turned down an offer of 3,000 guilders for one bulb, an amount equivalent to the entire annual income of a prosperous Dutch merchant. This extensive bartering began speculative frenzy now known as “Tulipmania.” Tulip bulbs became highly prized status symbols of a bride’s dowry, and every prosperous home had its tulip garden as a mark of their social standing.
A Market Bubble of the Dutch Golden Age
As bulb prices rose steadily throughout the 1630s, speculation soared. Artisans, merchants and farmers sold their tools, businesses and draft animals to be players in the market of Tulipmania. In 1633 a farmhouse was traded for three rare bulbs. Three years later any tulip, rare or otherwise, could be bought or sold, often for hundreds of guilders. A futures market emerged as the newly-rich tulip traders speculated in bulbs while they were lying dormant in the ground, a business that came to be known as the “wind trade.” At the peak of Tulipmania, tulip contracts sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman.
Over supply led to lower prices and by 1637 tulip traders could no longer find buyers able to pay the ludicrously inflated rates. Family fortunes were made and lost. Tulip traders went bankrupt, and later that year Tulipmania descended into the Tulip Crash, when the Dutch government finally interceded and placed restrictions on the sale of tulip bulbs.
Jackie Slevin - As a professional astrologer since 1982, I’ve been a seeker of the links between the machinations of heavenly bodies and their ...
