TORONTO - Today, art enthusiasts and historians are gathering in Toronto for a significant auction of valuable artworks from Hudson's Bay Company. Heffel Fine Art Auction House is hosting the live sale in the upscale Yorkville neighborhood, featuring 27 paintings from the now-closed 355-year-old department store. The highlight of the auction is an oil on canvas painting of Marrakech by Winston Churchill, created in 1935. This piece, which depicts women in the shade of palm trees in Morocco, is estimated to sell for between $400,000 and $600,000. Other notable works include a painting by Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith from 1894, showcasing pedestrians on rainy Yonge and King streets in Toronto, and two wartime pieces from William von Moll Berczy, a founder of the city. The collection also features over a dozen works by artists such as W.J. Phillips, George Franklin Arbuckle, and Frank Johnston. Many of these paintings were commissioned for calendars produced by Hudson's Bay from 1913 to 1970 and were distributed for free at their stores and trading posts. David Heffel, head of the auction house, described the sale as a "watershed moment," noting that retailers rarely accumulate such valuable collections. He anticipates "unprecedented interest, competition, and participation" from both the live audience and thousands of online viewers. Heffel stated, "It’s going to be exciting in the ballroom, but we’ve also beefed up our broadcasting pipe because we anticipate we’ll have a record number of viewers across Canada and around the world." The items being auctioned today are considered the "cream" of Hudson's Bay's collection of 4,400 artifacts. Heffel's company plans to conduct a series of online auctions for the remaining pieces, which will continue into next year. The first online auction is set to conclude next month and will include historical point blankets dating back to 1900, portraits of former HBC governors, and various Canadian and fine art. So far, all the blankets and most of the artworks have received bids. However, the royal charter that established Hudson's Bay Company in 1670 will not be included in this auction. HBC is expected to request court approval for its financial adviser, Reflect Advisors, to auction off the charter later this month. The Weston and Thomson families have agreed to start the bidding at $18 million. If successful, they plan to donate the charter to several institutions, including the Archives of Manitoba, the Manitoba Museum, the Canadian Museum of History, and the Royal Ontario Museum, which will share the document.