How Much Is a Tulip Bulb Worth?

• Posted by ppearlman
• on September 27th, 2012

Well, I can tell you unequivocally, a tulip bulb is worth whatever a buyer is willing to pay.

I bring it up this morning as I’ve tweaked the layout of this blog and added the tag line in the header:

8 Fat Swine, 12 Fat Sheep, 2 Hogsheads of wine…

This comes from a long list of items someone once paid for a single tulip bulb during the mania. Mackay published the full list in Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, a book I highly recommend.

Mackay copied the full list from Munting, an industrious author living in 17th century Amsterdam and it always resonated with me.

I thought of it again recently as I happened across an academic paper written by Mark Hirschey entitled How Much Is a Tulip Worth?

Hirschey publishes the list but adds a column listing what each item is worth in 1998 US Dollars.

 

That’s 34k$ for a single bulb at the height of tulipmania. Nice.

I always loved the list because it was a vivid and poetic reminder to me of two things:

1. Value is relative.

2. Markets will remain, to widely varying degrees, irrational as long as humans are involved with them.

Now here’s a listing from Michigan Bulb dot com, one of hundreds of websites that sell them.

40 for 9.99$

That’s just less than a quarter a piece.

 

 

The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.

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