Thanks guys! It all would have been a lot easier if I could have broken down the cabinet, but it's built like a tank. Lots of glue blocks and wood screws reinforcing the joints.
I finished off the picture frame this afternoon. I roughed up the lacquer that sprayed onto the inner lip so it would accept paint more readily.
Then masked it off and gave it a few light coats of Rustoleum Specialty Metallic Gold.
Here it is with the safety glass temporarily reinstalled. Much classier looking now I think
I'll touch up the inner screen surround with some "ivory bisque" AKA "off-white". They sure do have a lot of silly paint names these days.
That leaves one cosmetic task. The channel selector plate is in rough shape.
I believe the dealer would pop in up to eight tuning strips for your particular area.
How strange that the first position is labeled "1-2" in 1949. Perhaps this plate was used in earlier Philco sets too
The rest of the sequence is 3, 4, 5-6, 7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13.
I'm considering fabricating a new one from scratch or perhaps someone out there has a spare one in better condition ?