Coastal Boats Near Sidney, BC, (1948), expected to make $700,000, stormed home to $1.14m, while Mouth of the Courtenay River (1952) realised $789,750, against an estimate of $500,000.
The pieces had been bought in 1955 by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia for a combined $600: a tidy investment.
 EJ Hughes' Coastal Boats achieved $1.14m |
"The buyers jumped on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy these paintings," president of the auction house David Heffel told the Vancouver Sun.
"And they'll get generations of enjoyment out of them."
Jean Paul Lemieux' 1964 work Les Moniales also had collectors excited, selling for $1.02m.
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