I bought this Philco off E-bay for a reasonable price. Cathedral radios are very rare in this area, so I will occasionally put in a low bid on one, and this time I got it. There was some other action on it, but this radio does have problems so I can understand why it wasn't bid way up.

When I received the radio, I was surprised that it was in better condition than expected. Overall, the finish is in excellent shape. The lacquer is not flaking off, but there are paint splatters all over the top of the case. I am hoping that I can remove these without harming the lacquer. The front of the radio is in excellent shape, with only one area showing a little wear. I think that can be fixed without any problems. One of the knobs on the front is not the original, but an exact replacement is available from AES. The grille cloth is in good shape, as is the plastic dial. The only major flaw is that a piece of wood trim is missing off the side. I think that I will be able to fabricate a replacement quite easily. This piece is done in black lacquer, so I should be able to take any kind of wood, cut it to fit, lacquer it, and then "weather" it to match the old radio.

Electronically, I powered the radio on, but there is no output. No hum, no stations, nothing. I'll take a closer look at that when the case is done.