Photo courtesy of August Appleton
Dozens of paintings by the late folk artist George Colin are stored in August Appleton’s law office.
It wasn't Al Capone's secret vault, which proved an overhyped dud that held a few empty bottles and not much else.
This was more colorful – and valuable.
Chris Schaller, a former mortgage broker who awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to wire fraud last year in federal court, had a taste for artwork by the late George Colin, who made his home in Salisbury and died in 2014. Schaller was such a fan of Colin's work that he acquired more than 100 paintings, dozens of which now sit in the office of August Appleton, a Springfield lawyer who spent years battling Schaller in Menard County Circuit Court on behalf of Dan Fricke.