Decorating eggshells is ancient: engraved ostrich eggs found in Africa are about 60,000 years old. In ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia eggs symbolised death, rebirth and kingship, and decorated ostrich eggs were placed in graves. The Christian custom of Easter eggs is often traced to early Christians of Mesopotamia, who dyed them red in memory of the blood of Christ. The Church later adopted eggs as a symbol of the resurrection, and a blessing for eggs appears in the Roman Ritual. Eggs were forbidden during Lent, so on the Saturday before it, children went door to door collecting them as treats.

In 1909 D. W. Griffith made a 14-minute film about a speculator who corners the wheat market and doubles the price of bread. A farmer sows his field while a 'Wheat King' gambles in the Chicago wheat pit; bakers raise the loaf from five cents to ten and the poor line up for bread. Griffith cut back and forth between the farm, the feast and the breadline, a technique called parallel editing, so audiences saw both ends of the economy at once. The film drew on Frank Norris's stories and on a real scheme: months earlier Chicago financier James Patten had cornered wheat, sent bread prices up and made about $5 million, roughly $185 million today.