Tulip Mania
A tulip, known as "the Viceroy" (viseroij), displayed in the 1637 Dutch catalog\xa0Verzameling van een Meenigte Tulipaanen. Its bulb was offered for sale between 3,000 and 4,200\xa0guilders (florins)\xa0depending on size (aase). A skilled craftsworker at the time earned about 300 guilders a year.[1]
Tulip mania\xa0(Dutch:\xa0tulpenmanie) was a period in the\xa0Dutch Golden Age\xa0during which contract prices for some\xa0bulbs\xa0of the recently introduced and fashionable\xa0tulip\xa0reached extraordinarily high levels and then dramatically collapsed in February 1637.[2]\xa0It is generally considered the first recorded\xa0speculative bubble;[3]\xa0although some researchers have noted that the\xa0Kipper und Wipper\xa0(literally\xa0Tipper and See-saw) episode in 1619\u20131622, a Europe-wide chain of\xa0debasement\xa0of the metal content of coins to fund warfare featured mania-like similarities to a bubble.[4]\xa0In many ways, the tulip mania was more of a hitherto unknown\xa0socio-economic\xa0phenomenon than a significant\xa0economic crisis. And historically, it had no critical influence on the\xa0prosperity\xa0of the\xa0Dutch Republic, the world's\xa0leading economic\xa0and\xa0financial power in the 17th century. The term "tulip mania" is now often used metaphorically to refer to any large economic bubble when asset prices deviate from\xa0intrinsic values.[5]