The historic Civil War monument towering over Tamaqua is paid in full - not that anyone questioned whether it was.

But on Saturday, the original bill of sale turned up in Berks County.

A Reading man found the original, 151-year-old invoice for Soldiers Circle Monument, the center landmark of Odd Fellows Cemetery, and delivered it to the community the next day.

“This is good for the town,” said Bert Seiscio, 83, holding an old, handwritten bill of sale for a massive, eight-sided, marble and granite memorial capped by a flying eagle.

Seiscio is salesman for P.F. Eisenbrown, a monument and memorial company based on Lancaster Avenue in Reading, a firm dating back to the 1860s.

“I have all of the records from the mid-1860s. It was right there in the first book I went to,” said Seiscio.

Seiscio was prompted to search for the document after an inquiry by historian Eric Zizelmann, Tamaqua, who was doing cemetery research.

The invoice shows that the work was commissioned in May 1870, by the Doubleday Post 189, Grand Army of the Republic, Tamaqua, with a $500 check for down payment.

Additional amounts were paid over the next two years, totaling $3,261, paid in full.

“That would amount to $68,572.26 in today’s dollars,” said Zizelmann.

“But you could probably add another 30 percent since COVID,” said Seiscio. “All of the costs have gone up.”

Historical accounts show that the Doubleday Post organized on July 20, 1869, following the Civil War.

The actual inscription on the monument indicates it was erected in 1870. Its completion and dedication ceremony took place two years later.

“The monument probably was done in stages,” said Seiscio, accompanied by wife Mignon.

Early newspaper accounts indicate that the monument was erected for $9,000. It’s unclear if the added costs were attributed to installation, maintenance, inscriptions or possibly even establishment of a perpetual care fund.

According to Zizelmann’s research, the monument’s dedication was such a special occasion that all Tamaqua businesses closed for the day.

Odd Fellows Cemetery opened Jan. 4, 1864, and is one of two elaborate Victorian garden cemeteries of Schuylkill County, the other being the Baber Cemetery of Pottsville.

The Odd Fellows resting ground is home to more than 16,000 graves, more than twice the population of the town. It has been referred to as “The City of the Dead” and also includes a mass burial site. More than 100 people are buried there for whom records do not exist.