The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of
From Kane’s Rosebud to Indy’s Whip to Captain America’s shield... Iconic treasures from the world of film and television are centerstage in this podcast hosted by collectors David Mandel (Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Ryan Condal (Colony, House of the Dragon). Every week, the two writers share their love of Hollywood memorabilia, revealing unbelievable stories around some of the most famous and culturally important props, costumes, art, and ephemera in silver screen history.
Inside the Warner Archive
Matt Truex joins David and Ryan today to provide an inside look at the Warner Archive, its history, strategy, philosophy, and operation. And Matt is not only an archivist, he's a collector and a fan, so he comes at this topic with a unique blend of passion and gusto. Join the guys as they go all the way from the Maltese Falcon to Matt Reeves' The Batman, covering as much Warner collecting history as they can in between, including all you'd ever want to know about a little DC series called Birds of Prey.
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The Roddenberry Archive
Science fiction royalty joins the podcast in the corporeal form of Rod Roddenberry and Ethan Teller from Roddenberry Entertainment, Rod being the CEO and son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry himself. They regale the guys with tales of sci-fi yore, growing up around Star Trek, founding the archive that bears Rod’s family’s legendary name… and still have time to tell the incredible story of recovering the long-lost (and probably stolen…) original, 3-foot Enterprise model from Star Trek TOS. All that AND the guys at last learn who bought that V*Ger model from Star Trek: The Motion P...
The Nazi-Hunting Art Detective
Your favorite movie props podcast returns for another batch of episodes and a big old dose of class. So break out your brandy snifters because David and Ryan are joined by someone who is not only a fine art expert, but also a lady. Mari-Claudia Jimenez has had a fascinating career hunting down stolen Nazi art, appraising collections, working at Sotheby's, and most recently founding her own business in the fine art world. The guys chat with her about fine art, pop culture, and how everything in collecting these days seems to circle back to movie props--and what that...
Auction Recaps and Auction Fu*kery
David and Ryan are back (sort of ) to review the August '26 Propstore auction. They discuss the auction results, winners (David) and losers (also David), trends, happenings, whether Mighty Joe Young will sell, and what's ahead for them and the hobby this year. And then the guys tuck in to discuss the fuckery they've noticed recently, with big props being bought for bigger amounts at one place (Propstore) only to be quickly relisted at another place (Heritage), often times for a loss. What is going on? Is Ryan still collecting celibate?
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Live (on Tape) from San Diego Comic Con - with Todd McFarlane!
In the podcast's first live broadcast (with an actual live audience), the Stuff Dreams Are Made Of pulls off another coup by welcoming 1980s and 1990s comic art legend, toymaker, and baseball collector, the great Todd McFarlane. As our guest is such a man in demand, he arrived a bit late... but not to worry, David and Ryan improv and vamp in the meantime with a Heritage auction review and plenty of self-inflicted interruptions. But trust us: Todd is worth the wait.
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Emergency Pod: Heritage's Summer Entertainment Auction
David and Ryan fire up the cameras and microphones to jump on the horn and break down Heritage Auctions' massive summer entertainment sale. The guys cover everything from antique (but screen-used!) Pirates of the Carribean hardware to historical documents and photos (Claude Monet!) to Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker clappers and Otto-pilots to Terminators to epic Kirk wardrobe to severed Hamill hands holding legendary lightsabers. This episode (and auction) has it all, including the official announcement of a live Stuff Dreams Are Made Of podcast at San Diego Comic Con... and an absolute coup of a special guest!
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Propstore's The Boys Auction
David and Ryan crack open Propstore's incredible The Boys auction (now live) and dive The Deep (get it) into all the insanity from the acclaimed and recently-ended Amazon Prime series. Join the guys for a head-popping bacchanalia of supe costumes, intimate squids, popped heads, superhero drinking glasses and other toy tie-ins, lots of normie wardrobe, V vials and - of course - dildos. Bid now at propstoreauction.com!
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Shiny Object Syndrome (S.O.S.)
David and Ryan are back with another topic from Scott Brown's Downtown Brown book-collecting newsletter. But this one translates directly from collecting books to collecting props. Scott states, "Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS) is the best description I’ve heard for the magpie sensibility of most booksellers. The accumulation of pretty things is essential for our businesses, and most of us struggle to rein it in." Swap "businesses" for "collections" and "booksellers" for "prop hounds" and you have yourself a topic! The guys were both individually inspired by this topic which has wide-ranging implications across all collecting avenues and they fel...
David Zucker of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker
Surely they can't be serious. In another coup for the Stuff Dreams Are Made Of (our first comedy coup?), David and Ryan of Mandel, Condal and Taylor have a hilarious chat with comedy legend David Zucker. They talk all about Airplane! and the Naked Gun and Scary Movie sagas, what makes spoof work, casting for comedy, and of course, collecting. The guys also learn that Mr. Zucker kept an impressive amount of high-quality prop gags from Airplane!, has absolutely never seen or heard of House of the Dragon, and that he also has a very surprising (and rather serious...
The Felix Comic Art Podcast Crossover - Part II
First, go download and listen to Part I at the Felix Comic Art Podcast for a great discussion about comic art collecting and Ryan's budding comic art collection. Then, join David and Ryan and Felix here for Part II where they talk even more comic art collecting before segueing to Felix and his budding prop collection. It's a comic-art-prop crossover! It's a Crisis on Infinite Collections!
Listen to Part I here: https://felixcomicart.libsyn.com/
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The Book Detective
David and Ryan are joined by Scott Brown of Downtown Brown Books to discuss -- you guessed it -- book collecting. A lifelong collector and enthusiast of rare books, Scott has also been a dealer for the last twenty-five years. He regales the guys with tales from the book trade, tries to tempt them into yet another collecting arena, and then recounts the bizarre and tragic story of one of the greatest science-fiction book collectors no one has heard of -- a man whose seventy-year-old, priceless collection was slowly looted from his home. Scott deputized himself a book detective a...
Hello, Newman - It's Mail Time!
David and Ryan tear open Newman's bag of undelivered mail to find all the listener questions that have stacked up over the past few months. They cover call sheet collecting, bidding strategies, selling their collections as very old men, fakes in general, fake Mandalorian helmets (is there any other kind?), comic art, Russian spies/collectors, buyer's remorse, sensory pleasures with props, Pokemon cards (so, fake market manipulation) and much more. It's a mixed bag for sure, but it's hopefully packed to the seams with fun!
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Deep Dive: The Indiana Jones Grail Diary
David and Ryan are back and diving deep into another storied movie prop from the 1980s: Henry Jones' grail diary from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. For their quest, the guys are joined by multi-time Stuff guest and grail-diary-expert Tom Spina of Tom Spina Designs and Regal Robot. Ryan and Tom compare their individual grail diaries and discuss all the similarities and differences among these and all the other books made for the film. You may not find the holy grail itself, but you will find over an hour of nerdy entertainment and enlightenment! Only the penitent man...
Deep Dive: The ILM Studio Scale X-Wing Fighter
In this x-cellent edition of the podcast, David and Ryan are joined by x-traordinary model-maker, collector of x-acting taste and all-around ILM x-pert Jason Eaton to discuss everything about the legendary ILM model shop and, particularly, his lifelong obsession obsession with the X-Wing fighter. So grab your favorite astromech droid, hop in the cockpit, switch off your targeting computer and prepare to have all your x-pectations shattered... because it's time to make the jump to nerd hyperspace! X-celsior!
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An Auction Recap and a Vow of Collecting Celibacy
David and Ryan recap the March 2026 Propstore auction, their victories and defeats, what they observed about this strange day in collecting, what they sold, what they bought (!) — and then they discuss the year ahead and take a mutual oath of collecting celibacy… for now. /We admit that we are powerless over our collecting. We admit that life is unmanageable when we try to control it…/
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Leave the Gun, Take the Props
It's a very special episode of The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of as David and Ryan are joined by the delightful Janet Snow who played "Assistant to Mr. Puzo" for arguably the greatest film of all time, The Godfather. Join us as Janet regales the guys with her well-recalled stories of that magical, bygone era when men were men, tuxedos were frilly, and Frank Sinatra was still a dick. Ms. Snow, the consignor of the famous Mario Puzo copy of the Godfather Notebook that sold through Heritage Auctions in 2025, talks about supporting both Copolla and Puzo, dealing with the...
Live from Los Angeles (and London), it's Propstore's EMLA... LA!
It's auction week, baby! Join David and Ryan LIVE (or after the fact for those of you who aren't insane) to experience the March 2026 Propstore sale and all the things the guys are bidding on, not bidding on, should be bidding on, or are selling so they can bid on other things, or pay off their large Propstore debts. It's categories time! Which Mel Gibson prop is Dave going to talk about this time? And what /is/ the worst Prometheus prop?
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State of the Collection 2026
The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of is back, David and Ryan are back, and so is their banter about collecting and collections. They talk about what's been up since December, what they have their minds on this year (besides warfighting), and what they're excited about coming down the pike. Ryan also gives the HOTD update we promised last week but never delivered on. It's chock full of auction talk, yacht talk, #PrivateDeal talk and, of course, #Fakes talk!
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I'll Be Back: The Propstore March 2026 EMLA-LA Sale!
The boys are back, ready to buy props and chew bubblegum -- and they're all out of bubblegum. David and Ryan dive into this brand-spanking-new season with a catalog episode, this one covering Propstore's March 25-27 Los Angeles auction. We've got HOTD updates and storage facility updates as well as all of the guys' Favorite Things from Day 1 of the auction, with everything from Black Panther helmets to the finest Terminator jacket ever to come to market. There are C-3P0 heads, shark-killing spearguns and shark-catching fishing rods, golden tickets, Ryan's very own dazzling clapperboard collection, an incredible Frank...
A Tribute to Rob Reiner and Bob Burns
In this (actually) final bonus episode of 2025, David and Ryan get back on the mics to pay tribute to the two legends we lost this week: director Rob Reiner and uber-collector Bob Burns. Join the guys as they say farewell to these two irreplaceable giants.
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David Mandel...
Maximum Auction Tonnage '25
That's a wrap on podcasting in 2025. After 44 (and when you reach the end of this one, 45) chock-full episodes, David and Ryan take stock of an eventful year of sales, ballooning growth in the hobby (and prices... and premiums...) and review both the Heritage December sale and the Propstore EMLA UK auction and all the resulting tea leaves regarding what lies ahead in 2026 and beyond. The guys are also joined briefly by Gary Kurtz's daughters Tiffany and Melissa to talk about their uber sale of Tom Jung's original Star Wars half-sheet art before pulling the veil back on Ryan's mystery...
Once Upon a Time in the Tarantino-verse
It's book club week on The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of! David and Ryan are joined by the prolific film book author Jay Glennie to discuss being the author-of-record for Quentin Tarantino himself. They discuss his previous (and upcoming) books, working for Q (Jay's words), and take an in-depth look at the first book in his one-a-year Tarantino series, the making of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Jay's okay, but the Hippies sure ain't!
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Live on Tape: The December 2025 Propstore EMLA-UK
David and Ryan get on the blower to cover the categories and days 2 and 3 of the Propstore auction, which kicks off today, December 5th! They cover their tried and true 'live show' categories including the little things they love that might fly beneath the radar as well as what they think the weirdest thing in the auction might be. And: what would their kids love? What would their wives hate? What would they buy for each other? What really /is/ the worst Prometheus prop? Plus, a guest listener joins the show to discuss his purchase of a replica costume...
The Final Auction of 2025, Brought to you by Propstore
Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the internet... Propstore drops their massive, 2343 lot December EMLA UK auction. In this episode, David and Ryan go 15 rounds with Day 1, discussing everything from Barbie (and Ken)'s mugshot IDs, Handbooks for the Recently deceased, a sensational Alan Rickman collection (including his script from Die Hard), full-size, wearable Mondoshowans, Kubrick Klappers, a Seven Hells of a Game of Thrones collection, THE hero Goonies dubloon to end all Goonies dubloon debates, Kurgan vests and all their silver skulls, Indiana Jones Fedoras AND Ark of the Covenant ghosts, and a...
Heritage Auctions' Wicked December 2025 Auction!
It's actual auction madness at The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, but your ever-loyal writer-collectors are bringing you all the news, scoops and gossip. This week they're trawling through Heritage's monster December 9-10 entertainment sale and it's a doozy. They have everything from the Wicked Witch's original flying hat (!), to original King Kong photos and paperwork, to more Bob Peak (take a peek), to Tom Jung's original Star Wars half-sheet and program art, to Terminator arms (and costumes), to the Say Anything trenchcoat, to Lawrence of Arabia blasters, to Henry Fonda hats, to the incredible Fred Roos archive, to...
The Jim Henson Company 70th Anniversary Auction
David and Ryan tackle a big one today: the first-ever Jim Henson Company official sale, brought to you by Julien's Auctions. The guys have been talking about the auction for a few weeks, but it's time to finally crack open the catalog. And this one has everything - from Fraggles to Dark Crystals to Gelflings to Skeksis (Skeksi?) to Jim Henson-owned-and-worn-and-matched patterned shirts, to Muppet props to Treasure Island maps to those rubber chickens from A Christmas Carol. It's a truly delightful sale that will bring back memories for every generation of Henson Company fans, and there are items...
Collector Greg Nicotero (oh, and also living legend)
You can't spell Greg Nicotero without i-c-o-n. After years of idle talk and months of courting David and Ryan's annoying persistence has finally paid off - or Greg simply got too tired of being "busy" - or he took pity on this little collecting podcast. Either way, it's the coup of coups for The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, and the guys carpe diem big time with genre the make-up SFX legend, co-founder of KNB FX, and mega-collector to learn all about what made him and what makes him tick. They talk Creepshow, Evil Dead, Jaws (and more Jaws), Th...
The Jim Henson Company's CEO and Archives Director
Julien's Auctions has officially joined the podcast as a sponsor, and they are coming out of the gate with a biggie: The Jim Henson Company has raised the curtain on its first-ever auction to mark the 70th anniversary of the company. David and Ryan are here to share the juicy details with the two ladies who made it all happen: Lisa Henson, Jim's daughter and the CEO of The Jim Henson Company, and Karen Falk, its Archives Director. They chat with the guys about what it means to be in charge of the Company and its treasures, the history...
#PrivateDeals
David and Ryan wrap up Heritage Auctions' massively successful Kief Fromm and Stewart Berkowitz sales, discuss the observations and trends they are seeing in the tea leaves for the golden age of comics and of television, and then move on to the topic of the week: #PrivateDeals. The guys have joked a lot about the topic, but this episode is a serious (well, as serious as they get...) discussion about what constitutes a #PrivateDeal, how one goes about making a #PrivateDeal, conducting #PrivateDeals safely, and share a couple of examples of #PrivateDeals from their own storied collecting careers... all w...
Don’t Open, Dead Inside
No, it’s not the title of David’s Hollywood memoir, it’s Heritage’s three-day The Walking Dead auction extravaganza! Join David and Ryan as they flip through 640 pages of stunning lots from the hit AMC show and debate which weapon they would use in the event of a zombie apocalypse… and also whether they could fit a tiger in the back of a Cybertruck. Head shots only! Enter if you dare.
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Holy 60s Television Sale, Batman!
David and Ryan are joined once again by Stuff Dreams Are Made Of guest MVP Rob Klein - this time to discuss the incredible Stuart Berkowitz collection. This massive archive of 1960s television assets goes under the hammer at Heritage Auctions on October 24, 2025. He's got the Honeymooners, Gilligan's Island, Lost in Space, Star Trek, the Munsters, and, of course, Batman, Robin and a host of scenery-chewing Bat-baddies from the classic series. Rob, an expert in this era, takes the guys on a guided tour through the groovy 60s and the late, great, Stuart Berkowitz's dazzling collection. Listen, or it's b...
A Return to Comic Art Form: Treasures From the Keif Fromm Collection
David and Ryan crack open another Heritage auction catalog, but this one is brimming with beautiful original comic art rather than props. Joined by honored friend of the podcast and golden-age comic art guru Kelvin Mao, the guys discuss the legacy of a complicated collector and marvel over the incredible collection of golden age works that he assembled over his career. From Golden Age to Silver Age, from C.C. Beck to Jack Cole, from Will Eisner to Bob Kane, from Frazetta to Gill Fox, from All-Star Squadron to the greatest(?) Todd McFarlane Batman cover ever... pour a fine...
Deep Dive: Pee-Wee Herman's Bike
David and Ryan are joined by reliable props expert Jay Skwarlo who has abandoned TIE Pilots for red bikes to discuss all things Pee Wee's Big Adventure for the film's 40th anniversary. The guys discuss every iteration of the 13 (!) bikes made for the movie, those Jay has handled, those he's restored, those he's still looking to meet ($10,000 reward offered), why Large Marge is still terrifying, whether Jay needs to consider changing his name now, and the enduring charm of this gem of the 1980s that gave us the genius of Paul Reubens and Tim Burton in one zany creative...
Upgrades
Today on the pod, David and Ryan discuss the thing that every collector seeks: making their collection better. Specifically, taking a piece in your collection and upgrading it. That can mean anything from going from production-made to screen-used, from stunt to hero, from un-matched to screen-matched and beyond! How do the guys approach an upgrade? How crazy does "needing" (we are sick people) an upgrade drive them? What's a delta? All that, some macroeconomic theory from Ryan, and more on this week's The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of!
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¡La Colección de Guillermo del Toro!
What's almost as good as getting the legendary Guillermo del Toro on the podcast to talk about his collection? Getting his collection on the podcast to talk about it! Join David and Ryan as they dive into the catalog for Heritage Auctions' Guillermo del Toro Collection: Bleak House, Part 1 coming to you live on September 26th! The guys cover everything from Cronos to Nightmare Alley with all the Hellboys, Pan's Labyrinths, and Shapes of Water in between! It's sure to be a truly unique, terrifying, and cinematic collecting event! Exclamation points!
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Bonus Episode: The Propstore EMLA, LA Post-Auction Breakdown
On a very special, unscheduled, unsponsored episode of the podcast, David and Ryan hop on the mics to review the September 2025 Propstore auction. What did they win? What did they lose? What did they think of the results? Did David win a lightsaber? Did Ryan decide what to bid on? Hint: someone made some dough, and someone spent too much.
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<...Mailbags are Our Bag
Listener questions have piled up, so between auctions David and Ryan are diving in with their virtual letter openers to unseal and read. The questions and answers cover every kind of topic under the sun, including: buying pieces from reputable productions via disreputable vendors, buying pieces from disreputable productions via reputable vendors, the guys' favorite pieces by sentimentality factor, price trends in the hobby, House of the Dragon props, props we should really just give to our co-host (and visa-versa), preservation and restoration conversation, auction rules and minutiae, the Ghost of Greg Jein, and -- who's stronger, Mickey Mantle o...
Live on Tape: The September 2025 Propstore EMLA LA!
David and Ryan get on the blower to cover the categories and days 2 and 3 of the Propstore auction, which kicks off tomorrow, September 4th! Hear all about David's anxiety over Darth Vader's lightsaber and Ryan's over the sheer amount of Keaton Batman stuff he has look at before the auction really even begins. They discuss the little things they love that might fly beneath the radar as well as what they think the weirdest thing in the auction might be. And: what would their kids love? What would their wives hate? What would they buy for each other? Who i...
Deep Dive: The Lightsaber (Part 2)
Lucasfilm (and laser sword) expert Brandon Alinger returns to the podcast a mere week before freaking Darth Vader's freaking hero lightsaber goes under the hammer at Propstore. Together, he, David, and Ryan discuss the lightsabers of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and dive deep into the Vader saber that Propstore discovered earlier this year. New Jedi secrets will be unearthed, new jokes will be made, and you will be dazzled. It's guaranteed.
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The September 2025 Propstore EMLA... LA
It's Q4 and another massive auction season is nigh upon us. The fun kicks off with Propstore's September live auction and 1,400+ lots from all your favorite (and some unfavorite) films and TV shows. Join David and Ryan as they page through Day 1 of the sale and cover everything from 2010 to Zardoz and everything in between, including Clockwork orange canes, wonderful Batman toys, Indy whips (and belts), Jaws' jaws clappers, Sauron helmets, flashy things, hippie-slaying flamethrowers, the Rocketeer, Genesis devices, Picard's flute (Round 3 -- or is it 4?) and, of course, Darth Vader's Lightsaber. Join the guys for all the jokes...
