A desk and chair on which Charles Dickens wrote "Great Expectations" was sold for just over 433,000 pounds (850,000 dollars) to a former Irish journalist at an auction on Wednesday.

The final price for the set, which dates to the mid-19th century, was more than five times the pre-sale estimate, auction house Christie's said, after some "extremely fierce bidding," according to a spokesman.

"I'm a big Dickens fan, I always have been, it's an important piece of literary history," said auction winner Tom Higgins, 49, who added that he had already measured out a place to put the set in his Wicklow, southeast Ireland home.

The desk bears a bronze plaque which reads: "This desk was the property of Charles Dickens and was in use by him at Gadshill when he died. It is the original of the desk shown in Filde's drawing known as 'The Empty Chair' and upon it were written Charles Dickens' last works."

Christie's had predicted that the desk and chair set would fetch between 50,000 and 80,000 pounds, but it ended up selling for 433,250 pounds.

The set had passed down through Dickens's family before it was eventually gifted to Great Ormond Street Hospital so that it could be sold to raise money.

Dickens was a keen supporter of the London children's hospital, and spoke at its first fundraising event in 1858.

（Agencies）

（英語點(diǎn)津Celene編輯）