The last one isn't right. You can get multiple generations out of a single tulip bulb. Thompson's book goes into more detail about how early tulip markets functioned and the role of tulip-breaking virus, but the key part is that specific tulip varieties (created by the virus) would be continually introduced and be grown and spread but each generation was weaker and eventually the variety died out entirely. So they had built-in scarcity, leading to initial high prices (as only a few bulbs existed) and then declines as they became popular and investors cultivated them, eventually disappearing and making room for new varieties.

So not quite money, but not quite individual artworks/collectibles either; maybe more like prints with limited runs? (In a similar way, woodblocks wear out so scarcity for a particular print series is enforced.)