These pears ripened nicely

A man who paid $5 for a 19th century painting at a garage sale has sold it to a museum for $1 million, an art publication reported.

The unidentified actor found Joseph Decker’s “Ripening Pears” wrapped in a blanket at a Los Angeles garage sale three years ago, the report in ARTnewsletter said. The woman who sold him the painting said it had been sitting in her garage for more than 60 years, the publication said. Decker painted it around 1884 or 1885.

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., bought the painting in February for $1 million, said Meredith E. Ward, who served as the man’s broker.