My Kingdom for a…Tulip?: Dutch Tulip Mania, 1637

 

How much is one tulip bulb really worth? For Dutch speculators in 1637, the answer was as much as a house (only if it’s a really nice tulip though). In this committee, delegates will represent florists, speculators, and other members of the Dutch elite during the height of the Tulip Mania speculative bubble. The tulip market was built on trading contracts for rare varieties of tulip, meaning that most of the time, the bulbs themselves weren’t even changing hands. What goes up must come down, and the value of the tulips you paid a month’s salary for are no exception. Delegates will be tasked with administering the informal tulip economy and dealing with the fallout from its inevitable collapse.