Winston Churchill, William Berczy paintings among items in Hudson’s Bay auction

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This article was published 09/10/2025 (376 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – A painting of a sunny day in Morocco by former British prime minister Winston Churchill, an 1894 depiction of downtown Toronto by Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith and several pieces from one of Toronto’s founders are among the works Hudson’s Bay is set to auction off next month.

All three are contained in a catalogue released Thursday by Heffel Fine Art Auction House, which was retained by the defunct retailer to find new homes for its most prized possessions.

Although the retailer had 4,400 pieces — 1,700 pieces of art and about 2,700 artifacts — at the time of its collapse, details about the collection have been a closely guarded secret since the Bay filed for creditor protection and closed all of its stores earlier in the year.

The Heffel catalogue of 27 high-profile items is the first glimpse the public has had of the trove scheduled to be mostly sold by the end of the year to help HBC’s creditors recoup some of what they’re owed.

Churchill’s oil on canvas painting “Marrakech” is perhaps the buzziest item in the catalogue because it carries the highest estimated value, a range of between $400,000 and $600,000, and was created by the famous statesman, a prolific amateur painter. The image depicts a group of women in the shade standing by palm trees bathed in Moroccan sunlight and is the product of a painting holiday Churchill took in the African country. It was gifted to the Bay around 1935.

The Bell-Smith painting, “Lights of a City Street,” is described by Heffel as “the most significant work by the artist ever to come to auction.” It shows pedestrians strolling Yonge and King streets in Toronto on a drizzly evening and has been exhibited extensively, with appearances at the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Heffel estimates the piece has a value between $100,000 and $150,000.

Also in the catalogue are two early 19th-century paintings from William von Moll Berczy, one of the founders of Toronto. The canvases are nearly seven feet tall and worth between $70,000 and $90,000.

The first, the “Battle of Trafalgar,” features several war ships floating in the water by a fiery blaze, filling the air with smoke and an orange haze in a scene from the famous British naval victory. The second, “Rear Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson,” depicts the man who helped win the 1805 battle, in which he died.

Rounding out the catalogue entries are more than a dozen paintings commissioned for HBC’s historical annual calendars, including works by W.J. Phillips, George Franklin Arbuckle and Frank Johnston, which depict moments in the company’s — and Canada’s— history. The calendars were produced from 1913 to 1970 and distributed for free at its department stores and trading posts, with pieces commissioned from popular artists.

The most modern piece in the catalogue is a 2011 oil on canvas work called “Bay Watch.” The painting has a pop art style and features HBC’s iconic stripes and a moose. It is from Charles Pachter, the famed contemporary artist behind the hockey art that adorns the College subway station in Toronto. Bay Watch is valued at between $15,000 and $25,000.

David Heffel, president of Heffel Fine Art Auction House, said interest in the catalogue has been “unprecedented.”

“For the first time, collectors can now take part in this historic moment, carrying forward a piece of Canada’s legacy,” he said in a statement.

The pieces in the catalogue will be on display in Toronto from Nov. 11 to 18 with a live auction to follow on Nov. 19.

Most of the remainder of the collection will be sold in a series of online auctions, running from Nov. 12 to Dec. 4, 2025.

HBC has previously described the items allocated to the online sale as “retail era” but refused to divulge exactly what would be on offer.

Heffel called it “ephemera” on Thursday and said it includes HBC point blankets, rare coins, retail antiquities and collectible toys.

Not included in any of the sales being overseen by Heffel is HBC’s crown jewel — the royal charter that established the business in 1670 and handed it tremendous control of Indigenous relations and the land that became Canada.

The retailer is expected to seek permission from a court later this month to allow its financial adviser to auction off the document. It was due to ask for that permission this week but unexpectedly adjourned the hearing to next without offering a reason. On Thursday, it notified lawyers involved in the case of another adjournment to Oct. 20.

The Weston family of Loblaw Cos. Ltd. fame and the Thomsons, the media magnates who are linked to Thomson Reuters Corp., have both expressed in the charter. HBC would like the court to stipulate that anyone bidding on the piece must donate it to a museum or public organization that will allow for public access to the document.

Not part of any of the sales are 24 artifacts believed to be of Indigenous origin or heritage, which the retailer hopes to donate, and thousands of items it gifted the Archives of Manitoba and Manitoba Museum around 1994.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2025.