Colt 45 Single Action Revolver

I have a Colt 45 that belonged to my Great Grandfather. It says: Pat Sept 19, 1871 July 2, 72 Jan 19, 75 The Serial # is 181680 but on the trigger gaurd the Serial number is 168268. What do I have and what is it worth.

hello ,,i was hoping our colt expert would jump in on this one but i'll take a stab at it ,,the serial number you gave puts the 168 part as being a 1898 and the 181 part as being a late 1899 part ,,in 1900 colt started building the guns for use with smokless powder,,i'm gonna venture an educated guess that the pisto was built with either parts on hand with a smokless upgrade or someones changed it so they would be able to use smokless powder cartridges in it by changing the upper parts and useing the earlier frame,,but thats an educated guess mind you and i may be wrong here but i'm sure someone will correct me if i am,,
i'm not really sure how the value would range here since it's got different serial numbers ,,this may increase the value and it might decrease the value or be something colt collectors recognize and a specific variation,,
bigcurt

You should have another serial number on the bottom of the grip that matches one of the other ones.

One, two, or three large easily. Or more.

Yep, the serial number on bottom of grip is 168268

Thanks

1897,around 1900 they were built for smokeless.Id go with black if it was mine.