As you probably know, it is a 1950 model. (thanks, Philco, for making these so easy to date!) That was a really big year for TV, they were selling like hotcakes. (maybe hotcakes were selling like TV's?)
That set will need new capacitors, assuming somebody hasn't already replaced them in "modern times" (the last 30 years, I'd say). To simplify greatly, there are two sorts of capacitors to be concerned with. The first are the electrolytic filter capacitors. When these go bad they have the potential to destroy the power transformer. This is a bad thing! Finding a replacement would be very difficult and perhaps costly; installing it would be something of a pain in the neck. On the other hand, replacing those caps before they can cause trouble doesn't cost all that much (unless you have to pay a professional to do it!)
The other type of capacitor (again, simplified) are "paper" and there are oodles of them in this set; I believe on your model they will be Sprague Black Beauties, also known as "Bumble Bees". These have a terrible reputation. In most cases, a bad one won't destroy your set (though it may blow itself up, making a nice bang and maybe let off some steam to scare you!) but they will keep it from working properly. With old paper caps in that set it is likely that, if it will display a picture at all, it will be too short, mishapen, and will roll uncontrollably. Other than that, it will look okay
A Philco of that vintage isn't real hard to get going again; some like them more than others. There are a number of TV collectors in NJ, so maybe you could meet one of the guys in person?