In 1630s Holland, the rarest tulip bulbs were quoted at the price of a canal-side house. Then, in 1637, the market cracked.
Historian Anne Goldgar combed the records and found little proof the legendary deals were ever paid out — and no wave of tulip bankruptcies either.
The bubble was real enough to crash. But the famous ruin is mostly legend — which means the bubble story is partly a bubble itself.