Movie for our times: Tulip Fever
I was flying and managed to catch Tulip Fever. Interesting show, considering I have had many conversations recently where people had no idea what the Tulip Mania was all about. It’s a good “plane movie”, and maybe gives you some insight into what occurred then, but it didn’t open to great reviews (e.g. NYT). It has two themes – love, and of course the tulip mania. I choose to focus on the tulip aspect of things, considering I’m in tech, and the crypto space is often referred to as one. Naturally this is spoiler filled.
Some gems:
- Q: Are they a good investment? A: Well the market’s going up, you won’t go wrong
- Man has 18 Florens in total, and he spends it all in one go – “an excellent investment”
- “Took his own life over a Tulip bulb”
- Man: I paid 18 Florens for these bulbs, I’m told if they continue to rise, they will double. Nun in convent: A month ago, you could have had them for 10.
- “Cut the flower and sell the bulb, you have a rare one”
Shortly thereafter the man gives up being a fishmonger to become a trader! (A bit like crypto today when Uber drivers talk about investment advice).
More quotes of choice:
- “of course, free money”
- Nun: “the more they weigh the more they’re worth” – best bulb, sold for 920 Gilders, but we sold it for 18.
- “I would like to get a foot into the tulip business. Will you help me?”
- If the market keeps going up why isn’t anybody selling? Because it can go up three times in a month.
- “All we have to do is put all our eggs in one basket. A single bulb. The rarer the better.”
Eventually at auction, Admiral Maria – a 2,000 Floren tulip bulb, which goes for 1,500. He asks for 1,200 then they agree on 1,400. He is leveraging everything even though he doesn’t actually have the Admiral Maria. Due to his friend’s drunkenness, the bulb goes missing (eaten?), and the fishmonger sadly has been thrown into the sea
Eventually, 8000 Gilders and 2 houses is what the new owner sold the Admiral Maria for.
Then the Government stepped in to ban the Tulip trade. Prices crashed.
All this points to irrational exuberance and the theory of the greater fool.
This is not a movie I’d watch paying full attention to. You could get away with occasional reading on your Kindle/iPad. But it might get more people to remember a bit about the history of the tulip mania. After all, as George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
