Tag: belgium

So what did he do with the tulip bulbs after the bubble in tulip prices burst?
Did he plant them in his own garden?

Answer:
He found people who’s likely to buy them and sold them.

【Tulip Fever】

17th century Netherlands.
There was a growing demand among the aristocracy for tulips.

Merchants unanimously thought “This is a good business opportunity!” and bought so many tulip bulbs that prices were driven up, causing a bubble economy.
And when the bubble burst, it affected many Dutch cities greatly and the economy was thrown into chaos ….

↑There are probably some of you who have heard this story before.
What really happened was that tulip bulb prices went back down to normal, and those with foresight benefited greatly from it while those who didn’t have a good sense of business or pricing did incur losses, but not to the point where the entire country’s economy was affected.

“Damn! The prices of tulips has crashed!”
“The Tulip superpower country, the Netherlands, has been defeated by tulips!!”

These types of jokes became so widespread that it was assumed that historically the decline of the Netherland’s power was due to tulips.

Although this kind of thing happens often in history, this was on a much bigger scale.※

Incidentally, the extra tulips that were left over because of the bubble were sold to other countries,

“Tulips are really popular lately?! I should buy them too, so I don’t miss out on the trend!!”

and by selling tulips to these tulip fad enthusiasts, it became a very good way to acquire foreign currency.

Though of course there were also rare types, new varieties, and high class tulips that continued to be sold to the real deal at a reasonable price. That’s to be expected of the Netherlands.

…so does that mean that the only people who really lost money in the whole tulip price drop ordeal were those tulip fad fans?
Not exactly.

The Netherlands sold the tulips in the most efficient places, and successfully spread the tulip culture. True fans of tulips were able to acquire many new species of tulips during the craze, and those merchants who lost money during the crash were able to sell their leftover tulip bulbs at a slightly higher price abroad to those fad-loving fans. And those foreign fans who bought such expensive tulips were very satisfied with their purchases,
“There’s nobody else in this country but me who has such a new species! Such a great deal! Hehe!”

It was a win-win situation!

And so, that’s the tulip bubble for you.
For those caught up in it, it wasn’t as bad as everyone thinks.

I’m excited for the upcoming tulip season!

※
There’s been new research on the tulip bubble, but it’s very very recent, so there have been new discoveries little by little in the 21st century.

It is fact that there was a sudden tulip mania,
but the idea that the sudden drop in prices caused the Dutch economy to hit rock bottom, paralyzing all the cities and caused so much unemployment that they were engulfed in darkness… was very questionable.

Ah, but it does seem that there were records of some people who were engulfed in darkness like:

“Tu~lips? Not really sure what that is exactly, but it’s popular so might as well give it a try!”

and were sold lots of non-tulip bulbs or fake bulbs, and lost all their money and assets that way.
It’s like trying to defeat the Final Boss when you are unequipped (level 1), that’s so reckless…!

Speaking of which, coins from the Roman times are also sold abroad at rip-off prices.
For example, a coin that you can buy at 120 euros may be selling for 8000 euros, depending on the store.
Prices can differ a lot depending on the condition of the coin, but even if it’s a coin with good condition, if a coin of that particular emperor is commonly found, it shouldn’t cost that much…!
That kinda thing happens… Take Nero-chan, you can get your hands on his coin at a relatively cheap price.

Emperors that were famous and ruled for a long time produced lots of coins during their reign, so you can often acquire them cheaply.
If their reign was very short, even if they weren’t a famous emperor, the coins are surprisingly expensive.

Translation: kurukurumaki, don_amoeba
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