[Ron Ramirez]

I have no way of proving this...but I have long suspected that the tan material may be a low-loss material intended for use with frequency converter tubes, although they also used this type of socket for the phono preamp tube in the 41-616.

Regardless of Philco's intentions, the material becomes just as fragile as the rubber insulation on the wires over the decades, and can be counted on to fail sooner rather than later now.

As for heating the coil - Do not worry about melting the wax. This is desirable as it has been found years after the fact, that wax is not as good as was first thought for moisture-proofing. In fact the wax will help a coil retain moisture. Just don't get it so hot that the coil, or coil form, gets damaged. You can safely bake these in an oven as long as the temperature does not exceed 200 degrees F. Philco model 89 oscillator coils usually require baking as well as rewinding, for this reason.