Roman Fresco Magnets

We feel as if we've stumbled into the rubble of ancient Rome, glancing over these Roman Fresco Magnets ($7). No one chipped these off the walls; they're resin reproductions of real thing, but they look genuinely antique, and that's what we're after. Being classic is easy, being classical - well that's a bit harder. Since toga parties are reserved for college kids, these will do splendidly.

Muralists and Fresco-ists are not the same thing. Fresco paintings are done on fresh wet plaster so that upon drying, the materials are actually fused together. This makes ancient fresco techniques incredibly enduring and colorfast. Our fave old one fresco art is the Villa of Mysteries from Pompeii, painted some time before 79 A.D. Three of the images reproduced here are from a some a similar time range: The Peacock, a favorite exotic pet of ancient Romans, is dated at 70 A.D., as is the Nike holding garlands; the cupid scene, a detail from Cupids and Psyche Making Perfume, is from the 1st century; the Woman on Balcony fragment is a bit earlier, from 9 B.C-14 A.D. If you look closely enough you can see that she's sipping from a cup with her right hand and steadying her wine jug (aka an oenochoe) with her left. Some things never change.