[Arran]

Hi,

New caller whose background is mostly Zenith.

Ran across this Philco 40-158 console with fancy finish. Very professionally done. It's clean enough to be a special factory model kept in a protective bubble all these years. Or a recent repaint by someone with the expert's touch. Anyone ever hear of this design?

Yes it's called the "Book an appointment with the furniture strippers" design. It reminds me of a Rogers console, 1937 vintage, that I saw as a prop on a Canadian cable network called "YTV". Someone had taken that nice cabinet and painted it with mauve coloured "Speckle Stone" paint, it had walnut burl, Australian walnut (Oriental Walnut they called it), and several other very attractive cuts of veneer under all that mess. I hope that it found a good home, or is in safe storage, and didn't end up in the dump somewhere.
Regards
Arran