A brief history of 506070

Mike Dawborn has been a collector since he was a young boy in Melbourne. Starting with the usual - rocks, stamps and coins he eventually progressed to the also usual - nature strip finds and op shops.

After spending a lot of time overseas at markets, museums and art galleries Mike returned to Sydney in the late 1990s and started buying ‘retro’ items to sell at Bondi and Surry Hills markets, as well as direct to dealers.

In 1998 Mike opened a tiny shop on The Crescent in Annandale, Sydney calling it 506070 in reference to his preferred vintage decades. On many afternoons when the weather was behaving you might see a few chairs, a coffee table, maybe a lamp or two spread invitingly across the pavement of the corner site.

When the Annandale store closed Mike had a stall at Lunatiques Antique Centre followed by a two year period of living in southern Germany. Returning from Europe in 2020 Mike opened a store on Elizabeth Bay Road with the same emphasis on interesting, well-restored items of 20th Century design at reasonable prices.

The 506070 showroom is located in Elizabeth Bay, Sydney on the lands of the Gadigal of the Eora Nation. This characterful two level space features an ever-changing assortment of vintage pieces individually sourced by Mike on regular European visits and from across Australia.

We encourage you to visit the store to experience in person the visual and tactile pleasure of quality vintage furniture. You can’t click and buy directly from the website but you can contact Mike to get more detailed, first-hand intel about the pieces that take your fancy.

We acknowledge First Nations people as the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live and work.