Particle.news
Download on the App Store
3 ARTICLES
·
8h ago

Heffel Unveils First 27 Hudson’s Bay Artworks for Nov. 19 Toronto Auction

Online sales will disperse the remainder through early December, excluding the 1670 charter plus Indigenous items.

The 1949 E.J. Hughes painting, Entrance to Howe Sound, will be sold at the Nov. 19 Heffel auction in Toronto. It is part of the Lillian Mayland McKimm collection. It has an estimate of $1.25 million to $1.75 million.
Winston Churchill’s 1935 painting Marrakech was part of the Hudson’s Bay Company art collection.
Frederic Martlet Bell-Smith, Lights of a City Street, 1894. Large painting of the rainy evening street scene at King and Yonge streets in Toronto. Part of the Hudson's Bay Company collection, which will be auctioned Nov. 19, 2025 in Toronto by Heffel.
Horatio Nelson, the hero of the Battle of Trafalgar. From the Hudson’s Bay Company art collection, which will be sold Nov. 19, 2025 in Toronto at a Heffel auction.

Overview

  • The initial catalogue features 27 works drawn from Hudson’s Bay Company’s holdings, offering the first public look at the trove since the retailer’s collapse.
  • Winston Churchill’s 1935 oil Marrakech carries a presale estimate of $400,000 to $600,000, alongside Canadian highlights by Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith and William von Moll Berczy.
  • Heffel’s fall auction also spotlights E. J. Hughes’s Entrance to Howe Sound with an estimate of $1.25 million to $1.75 million from the Lillian Mayland McKimm collection.
  • Most remaining pieces will be sold through a series of online auctions running Nov. 12 to Dec. 4, described by Heffel as ephemera such as HBC point blankets, rare coins and collectible toys.
  • HBC’s 1670 royal charter is not included in Heffel’s sales, with a separate court process now adjourned to Oct. 20, and 24 artifacts believed to be of Indigenous origin are withheld for donation or other disposition.