Tulipomania

TulipomaniaThe Great Dutch Tulip-Trading Craze of 1634-37,[object Object],Mike Dash,[object Object]

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

Stranger from the east,[object Object],Wild tulips from the Celestial Mountains,[object Object],Natural barriers,[object Object],The unfinished article,[object Object],Symbols of spring, life and fertility,[object Object],Brought west by Turkish nomads, c9th-10th ,[object Object],Venerated in Persia by 1050,[object Object],‘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.’,[object Object],John Chardin,[object Object]

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

‘Acceptable and beautiful’,[object Object],‘The Light of Paradise’,[object Object],‘The Matchless Pearl’,[object Object],‘Increaser of Pleasure’,[object Object],‘Rose of the Dawn’,[object Object],‘Diamond’s Envy’,[object Object],‘Pomegranate Lance’,[object Object],‘Delicate Coquette’,[object Object]

‘Acceptable and beautiful’,[object Object],‘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.’,[object Object],Seyh Mehmed Lalezari, Acceptable and Beautiful,[object Object]

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

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

Varieties,[object Object],The most diverse of all flowers known to Clusius,[object Object],14 different species,[object Object],More than 30 varieties known by 1602,[object Object],Divided into three broad groups,[object Object]

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

Varieties,[object Object],Violetten,[object Object],Purple or lilac on white,[object Object],Less common than rosen tulips; about 70 varieties,[object Object],Also existed as lacken - white on a lilac background,[object Object]

Varieties,[object Object],Bizarden,[object Object],Red on a yellow background,[object Object],Least common and least coveted of the three groups,[object Object],About 24 varieties,[object Object],Could also be purple or brown on yellow,[object Object]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From the notarial records of Wouter de Jonge (1635),[object Object]

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

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

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

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

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

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

The bubble burst,[object Object],Cases heard into 1639,[object Object],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,[object Object],Market returns to equilibrium in 1640s with a few connoisseurs dealing direct with the remaining growers for the most superbly fine bulbs,[object Object],A few large deals still made - Aert Huybertsz pays 850 guilders for a Manassier, summer 1637,[object Object],By 1643, prices average 1/6th of those of February 1637,[object Object]

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

Tulipomania

Tulipomania

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Tulipomania