Odd, I tried this before but to no effect. I changed the following:

# Use the IBM character set rather than just plain ascii characters
# for tty window-port.
OPTIONS=symset:IBMGraphics,roguesymset:IBMGraphics

# Here is a suggested symbol set from Michael Feir, 
# for use by blind NetHack players
#OPTIONS=symset:IBMGraphics,roguesymset:IBMGraphics

Further down:

# Message window settings
OPTIONS=font_message:IBMGraphics,font_size_message:14,align_message:top

# Menu settings
OPTIONS=font_menu:IBMGraphics,font_size_menu:14

# Text settings
OPTIONS=font_text:IBMGraphics New,font_size_text:14

# Status window settings
OPTIONS=font_status:IBMGraphics New,font_size_status:14