value and age of WW1 S&W 38 speacial ser#26425 6" barrel

Hi, I inherited this gun from my grandfather
who was in WW1. U.S. Patd #s on top of barrel
consist of 7 dates from mar 27 94 to dec 17 01 Six cylinder, chamber sleeve when opened
has the letter K and the #4217 or 421Y. Can
anyone tell me age and approx. value of this
gun?
THX

i've got a couple questions for ya ,,first whats marked on the bottom of the frame below the grips,,sounds like a .38 hand ejector military and police 1st model,,made from 1899-1902,,chambered for the 38 s+w special cartridge ,,there was an army model a navy model and a commercial model,,i would guess it's a comercial model if unmarked on bottom and current values would range between 450 fair -650 vg at auction or to a smith collector,,i checked and from your serial number it may even be the second model ..but let me know if it's military marked and i'll give ya some other numbers,,
bigcurt

Thanks bigcurt for your reply.
The only thing I see on the frame at the bottom of the
walnut grips is the serial #. The only government marking I see is on the left side of the barrel where
it says U>S> service ctg"s< whatever that means. Any
where else I should be looking. What do you mean by the second model?
Randman1230

well the second model had different dates and features and serial number ranges than the first model,,it sounds like it may have been a comercial model sold to the public instead of being a us issued pistol,,most of the issued military pistols will be marked US and a date,,, it still may have been a police dept issue or may just have been a retail model your grandfather may have bought somewhere ,,did he ever tell you that he was issued this pistol? if it could only talk i'm sure it would have some stories to tell,,
bigcurt

Thx Bigcurt again.
Grandfather is dead and so is my father, so I guess I
will never know. I heard he was in WW1, but don,t really know where he got the gun.
After all that, do you still think it is worth $450?

Randman1230