The 1720 British bubble that burst after South Sea Company shares approached £1,000 was the South Sea Bubble. The South Sea Company received a government-backed scheme to manage part of Britain's national debt and promoted expectations of enormous trade profits.
Its shares rose spectacularly during 1720, reaching about £1,000 before confidence broke. The company had not earned the vast commercial profits that many investors imagined. As prices fell, investors and lenders faced heavy losses, and the episode damaged public confidence in joint-stock companies.
The same year also saw the Mississippi Bubble in France, associated with John Law's financial system. Those two episodes are often discussed together, but they were separate schemes in different countries. Parliament investigated the South Sea Company, and the scandal led to accusations of corruption involving influential politicians and company insiders.