AMSTERDAMSCHE BEURS · ANNO 1637 · OP DE ROBINHOOD KETEN

TULIPMANIA

Being a true and faithful record of the Great Tulip Trade, wherein the reader may observe how an entire republic lost its mind over a flower, and buy in anyway.

I. · DE SPECIMEN

Engraved plate of the Semper Augustus tulip, its striped bloom above and its bulb laid bare below. Tulipa. Folia. Bulbus.

Tulipa Semper Augustus. A virus makes the stripes. The stripes make the price. The price makes no sense.

Imported from the Ottoman court, admired by merchants, worshipped by speculators. Yields no dividend, no utility, and no flower for most of the year. Demand: infinite.

VALUATION: ONE BULB = TEN YEARS' WAGES OF A SKILLED CRAFTSMAN, OR ONE (1) CANAL HOUSE. THE MARKET HAS SPOKEN.

II. · HET GROOTBOEK

Prices as recorded at the colleges of Haarlem and Alkmaar, in guilders, for a single bulb.

Recorded sales of tulip bulbs, January to February 1637, in guilders.
DAT. BULB NAAM PRIJS (GL.) STATUS
Jan 21Viceroy1,200 VERKOCHT
Jan 24Viceroy1,500 VERKOCHT
Jan 26Viceroy, the same bulb2,100 VERKOCHT
Jan 28Semper Augustus5,500 VERKOCHT
Feb 1Admirael van Enkhuizen4,200 VERKOCHT
Feb 3Witte Croonen150 GEEN BOD
Engraved medallion of two gentlemen at a table, one passing a tulip bulb to the other in exchange for a purse.
TWO GENTLEMEN SETTLING A POSITION

III. · DE PRIJS VAN EEN BOL

The price of a single tulip bulb, November 1636 to February 1637. A hand-drawn pen and ink line climbing in steps to a peak, then falling vertically off a cliff to nothing in February 1637. 0 2000 4000 6000 GL. NOV 1636 DEC JAN 1637 FEB surely it goes higher 3 FEBRUARI 1637: GEEN BOD
It went higher. Then it did not.
Engraving of a merchant ship pitched hard in a storm, its cargo of bulbs spilling into the waves.
THE POSITION, FEBRUARY 1637

IV. · HET CONTRACT

Let it be known to all men that the bearer holds the one true contract of the Tulip, recorded upon the Robinhood chain, and that no other shall be honoured.

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BUY $TULIP AT THE EXCHANGE FOLLOW THE TRADE BULLETINS
A red wax seal impressed with a tulip, closing the contract.

V. · INSTRUCTIE VOOR SPECULANTEN

  1. I.Obtain a wallet upon the Robinhood chain.
  2. II.Fund it with money you profess to be prepared to lose. (You are not.)
  3. III.Swap for $TULIP at the exchange, verifying the contract character by character, as your notary would.
  4. IV.Hold. History records a deadline of February 1637.