[Arran]

I painted the escutcheon on a Philco 120 black several years ago, used gloss black alkyd enamel, someone polished up the brass which always looked wrong. I'm not sure that it was correct but many mid 1930s Philcos had black Bakelite escutcheons, and any photos I could find of 1936 Philco escutcheons looked black to me, though it could have been extra dark walnut. Now on the 1937 and 38 models with a teledial, those were definitely top coated with a tinted finish as they have a design on flat brass, early Philco escutcheons were chemically treated I think, they look like bronze to me.
Regards
Arran