Grandview Motel Matchbook Cover

Time may be running out for Lorain's Parkview Motel, but its original incarnation as Grandview Motel will live on in memory through various postcards and collectibles found on Ebay. The matchbook cover (above) with a charming hunting scene is one such item.

Apparently the Superior Match Company produced a whole “Americana” series of matchbooks (also known as “Scenic America”) with similar scenes. You can read about it here.

Although only a few letters of the artist’s name were legible on the painting, by trial and error I managed to come up his full name – J.F. Kernan – and eventually the name of the hunting painting: It’s A Bargain.

Here’s a nice print of the whole scene.

One website selling a print of the painting offered this description of the scene: A beautiful autumn bird hunting scene, the hunter with his English Setter dog, offers a cigar in trade for a day of hunting.

It must have been a popular painting, with prints of it all over the internet, as well as a puzzle.

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UPDATE (September 2, 2015)

I noticed another Grandview Motel matchbook cover (below) from the J.F. Kernan series on Ebay today. This painting has its actual name – "When Seconds Count" – printed on the matchbook cover.

It too received the puzzle treatment.