Tulips Trade !!!

The stories about Economic bubble are all too common to us. Who hasn't heard of the dot-com bubble in which the NASDAQ tumbled and caused a lot high-tech Internet companies to fold.

Believe it or not. One of the earlier economic bubble happened during the 17th century in Holland. And guess what. Its over tulips !

Yes, like those shown in the photos. Tulips were prized possessions those days. There were extremely high demand for tulip buds especially from the upper class people. That drove up prices of tulips to an extraordinary value. Of course, the rarer and prettier the tulip the higher the price.

Tulips were also traded in the stock exchange in Holland then. People also started selling futures on tulips.(it is like buying a flower that has yet to be planted !)

It was believed that the most expensive tulip was the Viseroij (Viceroy). One bulb was sold from 3,000 to 4000 guilders. How much is a guilder ?
Well... 3000 guilders would be able to get you eight pigs, four oxen, twelve sheep, twenty-four tons of wheat, forty-eight tons of rye, two hogsheads of wine, four barrels of beer, two tons of butter, a thousand pounds of cheese, a silver drinking cup (as well as clothes, bed and mattress, and a ship!)

Of course, the values for all these tulips were driven up by speculation. Until one day in 1637, the bubble burst and the value of tulips plummet. Many people lost all of the wealth was the bubble burst.

Interesting eh.