<div id="subtitle">The ghost of dinners past, Dickens' toothpick, is sold at NYC auction house for $9,150</div><div><p>An ivory and gold toothpick once owned by Charles Dickens has sold at a New York City auction for $9,150.</p><p>It was being offered by heirs to the Barnes & Noble family and was up for sale Tuesday at Bonhams New York. The pre-sale estimate was $3,000 to $5,000. The auction house says the buyer did not want to be identified.</p><p>The toothpick is engraved with the author's initials and has a retracting mechanism.</p><p>An authentication letter from sister-in-law Georgina Hogarth says the British writer of "A Christmas Carol" and "Oliver Twist" used the toothpick "when travelling and on his last visit to America."</p><p>Dickens died in 1870.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=65490522&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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