Bloemenspeculatie in Nederland. De Tulpomanie van 1636-'37 en de Hyacintenhandel van 1720-'36

Claims Supported by This Source

1. The first contemporary mention of the wind trade (windhandel) is from 1633 (Velius, 'Chronyk der stad Hoorn', 1648). Participants were citizens of Haarlem, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Leiden, Gouda, Hoorn, Enkhuizen, Alkmaar, Rotterdam, and Vianen, with very few professional growers (pp. 41–43).
2. From around December 1634, bulbs were priced by weight (aas; 1 g = 20 azen), and common varieties were sold by the pound or in lots of 1,000 azen. Selling in lots of 1,000 azen or by the pound made it possible to sell bulbs one did not possess (pp. 47–48).
3. Notary records (extracts from Posthumus): Gouda per 1 aas: 30 stuivers on 1634-12-01, 2 gulden 2 stuivers in winter 1635/36, 3 gulden 15 stuivers in 1636-05 (pp.49–50). 1 pound of Switsers: ƒ120 on 1637-01-15 (refused offer), ƒ385 on 01-23, ƒ1,400 on 02-01, ƒ1,500 on 02-02, ƒ1,100 on 02-09 (pp.51–52).
4. The afterword (Naereden) to the first dialogue describes a technique of cornering the market at a gathering and then placing buy orders to drive up the price among associates, stating that an item worth 1 to 2 guilders reached 100 (p. 50).
5. At the time, there were about 500 varieties. 18 tulip books (tulpenboeken) are known, 16 of which are from the period of the “wind trade” and contain about 450 illustrations. The title of P. Cos's book indicates an auction in Haarlem in 1637, but no such auction is known, and the appended prices are from the Alkmaar auction of 1637-02-05 (pp. 55–57, 59–60).
6. Trading took place at tavern gatherings (college/comparitie) two to three times a week at night, with two selling methods: 'with the boards' (met de borden) and 'in the little circle' (in het ootje). The buyer paid 'wine money' (wijnkoop) of half a stuiver per guilder, up to a maximum of 3 guilders, which was spent on food and drink. Neither the clerk nor the arbitrator verified whether the seller possessed the bulbs (pp. 70–73).
7. The three 'Samen-spraeck tusschen Waermondt ende Gaergoedt' pamphlets, published in February–March, March–April, and May 1637, are the best contemporary sources. Gaergoedt, a weaver who became a florist, claims to have made ƒ60,000 in four months, but had only received 'handwritten notes from people' (pp. 73–74).
8. The crash occurred on Tuesday, February 3, 1637. According to an eyewitness account in the first dialogue, in a tavern, one pound of Kronen or Zwitsers was successively sold with a premium for ƒ1,250, ƒ1,100, and ƒ1,000, but the next day trading had stopped and 'everyone looked at each other's faces' (p. 80).
9. Two days later, on February 5, 1637, an auction was held in Alkmaar for the orphans of the late Wouter Bartelmiesz. Winckel (proprietor of the old shooting gallery hall), reaching a record total of ƒ90,000 for about 70 bulbs, 27 lots of 1,000 azen, and pondgoed. The price list was printed and distributed (pp. 80–81, source 41).
10. 1637-02-07: In Utrecht, 36 florists select representatives. 02-24: In Amsterdam, representatives from 10 cities make an agreement before the notary P. Barchman: sales and purchases up to 1636-11-30 are to be fulfilled; subsequent contracts can be cancelled during March if the buyer pays the seller 10% of the price. The Amsterdam representatives did not sign, and the agreement was not binding (pp. 81, 83–84).
11. On 1637-03-07, the city of Haarlem decided to recall and ban the sale of satirical documents and songs, and on the same day, recommended the nullification of all transactions since the last planting (October 1636). Following petitions from various cities, the States of Holland consulted the provincial court. On 04-25, the court replied with the opinion: "Insufficient information. The city authorities should have the parties reconcile. In the meantime, growers may, upon notice, hold or sell the bulbs at the buyer's risk, and all contracts are suspended." The States of Holland passed a resolution to this effect on 04-27 (pp. 85–86, 93–94).
12. According to Stammler (1928), the courts initially refused to accept the numerous disputes brought after February 3, viewing them as gambling contracts void under Roman law. Settlements between parties were often reached for 5% or 10% of the price (pp. 95–96).
13. The city of Haarlem established a type of moratorium on 1637-05-01, prohibiting notaries from drawing up protests, set up a five-person committee (meeting twice a week) in January 1638, and on 1638-05-28, made its arbitration binding and set a fixed cancellation fee at 3½% of the contract price (the seller kept the bulbs). This was the last public document concerning the wind trade (pp. 96–97).
14. There were losses and disappointment, but no general financial collapse occurred in the city or the province. A notarized sale of bulbs for ƒ11,700 (in 3 installments) was concluded on 1637-03-17, showing that bulbs had not become worthless after the crash. Wirth's (1858) claim that 'recovery took many years' lacks evidence (pp. 97–99, 101–102).
15. Wassenaer's chronicle: in 1623, one Semper Augustus bulb sold for ƒ1,000, and an offer of ƒ12,000 for 10 bulbs was refused. In 1624, the only dozen available went for ƒ1,200 per bulb. In 1625, the owner refused offers of ƒ2,000 and ƒ3,000 (pp. 32–33).
16. The list of items '2 lasts of wheat, 4 lasts of rye, 4 fat oxen... total ƒ2,500, with a ship ƒ3,000' was an example given in the 1636 pamphlet 'Clare ontdeckingh' to illustrate the magnitude of a bulb's price, and was not an actual transaction. Later storytellers spread it as a transaction for a Viceroi. Semper Augustus rarely appears in transaction records (pp. 67–68).
17. The painter Jan van Goyen made a purchase on 1637-01-27 and 02-04, promising to deliver bulbs worth about ƒ900 and two paintings. He had not finished paying by 1641 and died bankrupt (p.66).
18. The anecdote of "mistaking a bulb for an onion and eating it" originates from a classic example around 1570 (the story of a merchant in Antwerp as told by Clusius) and is not an event from 1637 (pp.17, 118).
19. In Germany, it was the subject of economic and legal treatises by Beckmann ("Geschichte der Erfindungen," 1780), Wirth ("Geschichte der Handelscrisen," 1858), and Stammler (1928), while in France, it became the subject of creative works such as Dumas' "The Black Tulip" (1850) (p.113).

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