Semper Augustus

‘The ever-exalted’, that is what the name of this tulip means. The Latin words were part of the title of the German emperor, the European monarch who was the highest in rank in the 17th century. The breeder of this variety apparently thought that his tulip surpassed all other tulips and many contemporaries agreed with him.

Semper Augustus is first mentioned in 1623 when it was owned by a single owner. Other tulip lovers also thought the tulip was beautiful, but the owner did not want to sell anything. During the tulip fever, only two people had Semper Augustus bulbs. A single bulb could have fetched at least 6,000 guilders in 1637 – if only the owners had wanted to sell it.

In 1739 the Semper Augustus still existed, but it had become an ordinary tulip, worth no more than 1 guilder per bulb.