You think this is bad....read up on the Tulip craze of the 1920's.
I thought that was in the 1620s?
You're right...I had a brain fart. Seems like it reached its peak later though, around 1640. I can't figure out what I was thinking about in the 1920's that was connected in my mind to the tulip craze. Some other commodity that was frivolous and pointless.