TORONTO – The latest round of Hudson’s Bay treasures to hit the auction block is packed with ephemera and Indigenous art.
Heffel Fine Art Auction House revealed Monday that the 198 pieces that will go up for sale Tuesday include canoe paddles, marionettes, coins, suitcases and model boats that once belonged to the fallen department store.
Heffel has been auctioning off tranches of Hudson’s Bay’s 4,400 pieces of art and artifacts since November to help the defunct retailer recoup cash for its creditors.
While the lone in-person auction Heffel hosted in November focused on art and the first online sale, which ran through December, added HBC point blankets to the mix, the next auction focuses heavily on retail-era curios.
There’s an HBC typewriter, hockey jersey, model train tanker, a Steiff teddy bear wearing one of the company’s striped coats and even a plaster mould for the retailer’s coat of arms.
Also up for sale is a poster from the 1940 film “Hudson’s Bay” starring Paul Muni and Gene Tierney, an Arcadian Court Barbie, a Beaver pocket watch and an RCMP commemorative sword.
Many of the items, including a slew of striped blankets as old as 1930, hearken back to HBC’s origins as a fur-trading business born in 1670. For example, there’s a replica of an oil and gas beaver pelt cheque, a “land for offer” sign and a Churchill, Man., “first shipment” souvenir plate.
Other items came from businesses HBC acquired like Simpson’s and Morgan’s. Up for sale are a Serenader Bakelite radio, large bronze store signs and silver kitchenware belonging to the former and a vintage, red cash register from the latter.
The item with the highest estimated value is Kenojuak Ashevak’s 1961 print called “A Vision of Animals.” Heffel believes it is worth up to $15,000.
Most of the other items are priced at just a few hundred dollars or less, though auction house estimates are typically much lower than what items eventually sell for.
Joining the Ashevak piece are dozens of other works from the artist, Pitseolak Ashoona, Josephie Pootoogook as well as stone sculptures of animals.
The auction will run on Heffel’s website until Jan. 27. Several more sales will be held throughout the remainder of the year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2026.
