An ivory and gold toothpick once owned by Charles Dickens has sold for more than $9,000 in New York.
It was put up for auction by heirs to the Barnes & Noble family.
The toothpick is engraved with the author's initials.
An authentication letter says the British author of `A Christmas Carol" and "Oliver Twist" used the toothpick on his last visit to America, in the late 1800s.
