Charles Dickens' pocket watch sells for £11,500

The gilt metal open-faced key-wind pocket watch dates from 1836

A pocket watch once owned by Charles Dickens has sold for £11,500 at auction.

The open-faced key-wind watch dates from 1836 and was gifted to the famous author on the first anniversary of his editorship of the magazine Bentleys Miscellany.

A desk set given by Dickens to his daughter fetched £3,400 at the auction in Chichester, West Sussex.

The items went on sale after the death of a Dickens' descendant in the Portsmouth area.

The William IV watch is engraved with the initials CD and the words Dearest Boz editor Bentleys Miscellany Dec 1836.

Boz was a pseudonym used by Dickens in his early writings.

The desk set was a gift to Dickens' daughter in 1859

The brass-bound walnut ebonized desk set dates from 1859 and is engraved Happy Birthday Little Lucifer Box with a plaque to Catherine Elizabeth Dickens, the author's daughter.

It is believed to be a gift for her 20th birthday.

Dickens is thought to have referred to her as Little Lucifer Box on account of her fiery temper.

The watch sold for more than three times its estimate price and the desk set around five times higher.

Both items went to an individual outside the UK who wishes to remain anonymous.

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