Tulips were first brought into Holland from Constantinople in the middle of the sixteenth century. Eventually, possession of a tulip garden represented status, and as wealth and consumption climbed, so did the growing Dutch national passion for tulips. As shares on the Amsterdam bourse and real estate values climbed, the prices of the more rare bulbs began to climb as well. By 1636, bulb prices, even the more common varieties, were in a parabolic ascent. The country was crazed for tulips.