Bulbs were sold on a speculative level and it was not unknown for people to risk home and business in the hope of buying a bulb and reselling it for a higher value the next day. In 1633, one Semper Augustus was said to have sold for 5,500 guilders, and in 1637, just before the crash, a price of 10,000 guilders was asked. Mike Dash the author of Tulipomania asserts that 10,000 guilders would have fed and clothed a Dutch family for several decades.