A Flower That Became FortuneIn mid-16th-century Europe, a single bloom arrived from the Ottoman Empire and soon became the must-have ornament of Dutch aristocrats. Rare and radiant, tulips stood for wealth and refinement. By the early 1600s the plant had mutated into a speculative asset. Merchants, craftsmen, even ordinary laborers traded “tulip-bulb futures,” often without ever seeing the actual bulbs. At the 1636 peak, one exotic bulb could fetch the price of a canal-side mansion in Amsterd...
