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Famous art from The Hudson’s Bay Company collection up for auction
Twenty-seven paintings that will be sold by Heffel Fine Art Auction House include a painting of Morocco made by former British prime minister Winston Churchill, and several pieces from Toronto co-founder William von Moll Berczy.
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Inside Heffel Fine Art Auction House on Oct. 23, 2025 (CTV News/ Sydney Wray)
Image taken on Oct. 23, 2025 (CTV News/ Sydney Wray)
Artist: Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith
Created: 1894
Estimate: $100,000 - $150,000 CAD
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Charles Fraser Comfort
Created: 1930
Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000 CAD
According to Heffel, ‘Lower Fort Garry on the Red River, also known as the Stone Fort, was built in 1831 some 32 kilometres downriver from Upper Fort Garry after flooding destroyed the original fort to the south in 1826. The upper fort was reconstructed by 1836, and the Stone Fort was never fully utilized as the administrative centre it was intended to be, serving off and on as an outpost for the fur trade until the HBC ceased operations there in 1911.’
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Walter Joseph (W.J.) Phillips
Created: 1934
Estimate: $15,000 - $25,000 CAD
Athabasca Landing was important to the Hudson’s Bay Company’s northwestern trade networks by the middle of the 19th century, ‘serving as an effective route to supply the trading posts located closer to the Pacific and Arctic Oceans,’ according to Heffel.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Adam Sherriff Scott
Created: 1928
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CAD
The artist ‘depicts one of these trains leaving the fort in early morning, turning away from the shadowed banks of the Assiniboine towards a glowing sunrise at the start of a lengthy journey,’ according to Heffel.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: William von Moll Berczy
Created: 1948
Estimate: $70,000 - $90,000 CAD
This works depicts the ‘triumphant British vessels circle in behind with flags flying, coming to rescue the enemy sailors adrift, according to Heffel.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Charles Fraser Comfort
Created: 1941
Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000 CAD
According to Heffel, ‘Dr. John McLoughlin was chief factor of Fort Vancouver, in present-day Oregon, from 1824 to 1846.’
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: George Franklin Arbuckle
Created: 1957
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CAD
In this work, ‘Inuit expertly navigate the ice floes, bringing fox furs and polar bear skins by kayak, showcase the reach of these early trading relationships,’ according to Heffel.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: George Franklin Arbuckle
Created: 1952
Estimate: $8,000 - $12,000 CAD
According to Heffel, this work ‘is an important example from the Hudson’s Bay Company’s calendar paintings, in that it is one of a vanishingly few images that featured women, and the only one to depict a woman in a position of power.’
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Frank Hans (Franz) Johnston
Created: 1923
Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000 CAD
The artist ‘captures the moment the river was reached by Hearne: the exhaustion of the party after their trek, and the joy at having “discovered” a major waypoint,’ according to Heffel.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Charles Fraser Comfort
Created: 1936
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CAD
According to Heffel, this painting is ‘an example of the Hudson’s Bay Company calendar serving to reinforce an idealized image of strength and authority tied to the Company’s colonial presence.’
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Charles Fraser Comfort
Created: 1949
Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000 CAD
According to Heffel, this work details a recreation of an encounter between Scottish explorer Dr. John Rae and Inuit hunters.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Adam Sherriff Scott
Created: 1931
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000 CAD
George Simpson was a Scottish fur trader, and was appointed associate governor of the Northern Department of the Hudson’s Bay Company, then amid a merger with rival North West Company, according to Heffel.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: William von Moll Berczy
Created: 1807-1808
Estimate: $70,000 - $90,000 CAD
In this depiction of the critical Battle of Trafalgar, Rear Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson wears the Star and Ribbon of the Order of the Bath on the breast of his uniform and the Naval Gold Medal around his neck, according to Heffel.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Adam Sherriff Scott
Created: 1945
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CAD
According to Heffel, ‘this image depicts a soldier, presumably his wife, returning to Upper Fort Garry, the central administrative hub for the Hudson’s Bay Company during the middle of the 19th century.’
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: George Franklin Arbuckle
Created: 1948
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CAD
According to Heffel, ‘Lachine proved to be an excellent location to both store the HBC’s trade goods and to assemble and launch the flotillas of trading canoes headed westbound towards Lake Superior.’
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Adam Sherriff Scott
Created: 1956
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CAD
In this depiction, ‘a troop of late-eighteenth-century British colonial soldiers exit the Hudson’s Bay Company headquarters of York Factory, flags held high and drums banging, carrying trade goods including clothing and casks of brandy.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: George Franklin Arbuckle
Created: 1957
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CAD
According to Heffel, this work ‘depicts a ceremony held at Fort Langley on November 19, 1858, where Governor James Douglas and his party depart from the trading post after declaring the Colony of British Columbia.’
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Adam Sherriff Scott
Created: 1942
Estimate: $7,000 - $9,000 CAD
In this work, ‘paddlers fore and aft work to pilot the open boat down the swirl of coloured water, while the brightly lit peaks of the Fraser River canyon swell behind them,’ according to Heffel.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
Created: 1935
Estimate: $400,000 - $600,000 CAD
According to Heffel, Sir Winston Churchill gifted this work to his wife, Lady Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill, which she then gifted to the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1956.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: George Franklin Arbuckle
Created: 1951
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CAD
Cumberland House, known as Waskukikun or Waskahikanihk by the local Cree, was a fort established on the Saskatchewan River delta by Hudson’s Bay Company explorer Samuel Hearne in 1774, the Company’s first inland trading post, according to Heffel.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: John I. Innes
Created: 1929
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CAD
According to Heffel, ‘Samuel Black was something of an oddity even among the long list of eccentric outdoorsmen employed by the Hudson’s Bay Company during its early history.’
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Charles Fraser Comfort
Created: 1941
Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000 CAD
‘This painting depicts two traders of the Hudson’s Bay Company arriving at their posting at Tadoussac, Quebec, while a guide points the way to the village over the frozen Saguenay River,’ according to Heffel.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Francis Holman
Created: 1771
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CAD
According to Heffel, this work offers a ‘striking and carefully composed portrait of three key vessels in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company: the King George, Prince Rupert and Sea Horse.’
(Source: Heffel)
Inside Heffel Fine Art Auction House on Oct. 23, 2025 (CTV News/ Sydney Wray)
Artist: Walter Joseph (W.J.) Phillips
Created: 1929
Estimate: $15,000 - $25,000 CAD
According to Heffel, the York boat was used by the Hudson’s Bay Company ‘to carry cargo through the inland lakes and waterways of Rupert’s Land, trading the lightness of a birchbark canoe for the size and durability of a full-sized wooden hull.’
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Lorne Holland Bouchard
Created: 1956
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000 CAD
Rupert House, also known as Fort Charles, was first the Cree community of Waskaganish, according to Heffel.
(Source: Heffel)
Artist: Adrien Hébert
Created: 1936-1937
Estimate: $40,000 - $60,000 CAD
The artist ‘masterfully captures the jubilant energy of the season in this charming theatrical vignette, set against the illuminated backdrop of the holiday window,’ according to Heffel. (Source: Heffel)
Artist: Charles Pachter
Created: 2011
Estimate: $15,000 - $25,000 CAD
According to Heffel, ‘the dramatically antlered moose surveys the view across a bay towards the far shadowed hills, elegantly rendered in abstract masses of blue shades.’
(Source: Heffel)
Inside Heffel Fine Art Auction House on Oct. 23, 2025 (CTV News/ Sydney Wray)
Inside Heffel Fine Art Auction House on Oct. 23, 2025 (CTV News/ Sydney Wray)