[Arran]

Thanks Arran.  I'm getting familiar with such things as tinted/toned lacquer and grain filler.  I'm working on an old wooden radio to practice - you can read about it here: Sentinel 203UL Restoration
I have some Mohawk toned lacquer I'm using on it.

I'm still working to *definitively* know whether the TV cabinet is mahogany or walnut.  Once I know I can order veneer for the water damaged top and sides.
In most pictures the 48-1000 has a reddish/amberish glow.  Do you have any idea what tone or tones may have been used?  Red mahogany maybe?

 It may have been brown rather then red mahogany, if the cabinet was mahogany to start with. I have a 1949-50 G.E TV which I think used some form of mahogany, which was finished in a similar way to the Philco in the lower picture, but the only exposed wood, with no finish, is on the top which has something sitting on it at the moment. If it's a mahogany it's plain cut, it isn't ribbon mahogany with the alternating dark and light stripes.
  In looking at the above picture of your 48-1000 it looks like it was badly water damaged which means that it will probably have to be dismantled and some of the cabinet parts will have to be replaced. Maybe you will be lucky enough to be able to glue the delaminated layers back together, and flatten them out, but if not see if you can get some help from someone with a lot of cabinet or furniture making experience. Baltic birch seems to be a good material for radio and early TV cabinet construction, it's made up of thin layers of birch veneer and the overall thicknesses seem to be very close to the hardwood plywoods they used to use, like 1/4'' is 1/4'' and so on, not something like 7/32''.
Regards
Arran