Winnipeg Arena Queen portrait going on auction block

A royal piece of Winnipeg history is going up for auction in the new year.

The massive portaitofQueen Elizabeth II hung from the rafters in the old Winnipeg Arena for 20 yearsand was sung to by scores of NHL players when the Jets played in that barn.

It is set togo on the auction block in 2012.

The five-by-seven metre painting was commissioned in 1979 by Manitoba Lt.-Gov. Francis Laurence Jobin specifically for the arena.

But it has been homeless since it was taken down prior to the arena's demolitionin 2005.

After coming down, the painting went for restoration work including repairsto the marks left behind by hockey players who used to try to hit the Queen's mouth with the puck.

Itspent a couple of years in an arena in Souris, Man., before moving east.

It's currently owned by a Vancouver singer, Tim Lawson, but for the past10 years ithas been sitting in a Whitby, Ontario warehouse.

Rumours surfaced in May of this year that the portraitmight be coming home, along with the return of the Jets.

The caretaker of the paintingtold CBC she has no idea what the painting is currently valued at. Andthere have been no offers from anyone from Winnipeg, she noted.