Dickens' Great Expectations desk fetches $850,000

By Mike Collett-White

LONDON (Reuters) - The desk where Charles Dickens wrote "Great Expectations" and his final correspondence hours before his death fetched 433,250 pounds ($850,000) at auction on Wednesday, around seven times its pre-sale estimate.

The Irish entrepreneur who bought the furniture called the price "a bargain" for such a piece of literary history.

"It's a part of Charles Dickens, so I'm delighted to be its owner," Tom Higgins told Reuters by telephone after the sale.

"I've been a huge Dickens fan for a long time. I actually think it's worth a lot more than what I paid for it and expected it could have gone for as much as five million (pounds).

"I think it's a bargain, really," added Higgins, 49, who plans to be Ireland's first space tourist.

He added that the fact that proceeds from the sale were going to Great Ormond Street children's hospital in London made it easier to part with the cash.

Christie's sold the furniture as part of its valuable books and manuscripts sale in London, and the price includes the buyer's premium.

"ASTONISHING AMOUNT"