Value guide

What is my Colt worth?

Colt is the name where the gap between what people expect and what a gun is actually worth runs in both directions. Some Colts are worth several times what a family assumes; some are worth considerably less than the internet suggested. Almost all of that turns on when it was made and whether it has been touched.

No page can price your gun, and any page that offers to is guessing. What this one does is show you the things that decide the number, so you can look at what you have and know whether you are holding something ordinary or something worth a proper look.

When it was made, and whether the finish is the one it left with

Colt's revolvers are divided sharply by period, and the divisions are well established: pre-war and post-war on the older guns, and the various generations of the Single Action Army. On the double-action revolvers, original factory finish is close to everything. A refinished Colt — even a beautifully refinished one — is worth a fraction of the same gun with honest original bluing, and this catches people out constantly, because the refinished gun looks better.

The models that turn up, and what they mean

Model	Made	What it means for value
Python	1955–2005, revived 2020	The one everybody has heard of. Original-condition older production is a serious gun; condition and finish drive the number hard.
Single Action Army	1873–present, in generations	Which generation it is changes everything. First-generation guns are a different market from later ones.
Government Model / 1911	1911–present	Military and commercial production, across a century. Markings and period are what matter, and both are easy to misread.
Detective Special / Cobra	1927–1990s	Small-frame revolvers, very common in estates, and much better in original finish than most people assume.
Officer's Model / Officers Model Match	1904–1970s	Target revolvers that turn up looking plain and are often worth far more than they appear.
Woodsman	1915–1977	A .22 pistol in three series. Frequently written off as 'just a .22' and frequently should not be.

What to check before anybody makes you an offer

Whether the finish is original. Sharp edges, crisp markings and even wear suggest it is; a uniform glossy blue with softened lettering suggests it is not.
The serial number and any letter prefix or suffix, which places the gun in a period.
Whether the grips are the ones it left the factory with, and whether the box and papers survived.
On revolvers, whether the cylinder locks up tightly and whether the action has been worked on.

And the two rules that apply to every gun on this page:do not clean it, and keep the box and papers. Removing original finish is permanent, and on the right gun the packaging is a real fraction of the total.

"I had it re-blued so it would be worth more"

This is the single most expensive mistake made with Colts, and it is made with the best of intentions. Refinishing removes original factory finish, and original factory finish is a large part of what a collector is paying for. If a Colt in your family has honest wear, that wear is worth more than a new finish. Do nothing to it.

Is a Colt with box and papers really worth more?

On a collectible Colt, materially — the box, the papers, the hang tag and any factory letter can be a substantial part of the total. On an ordinary working revolver it makes much less difference. Either way, never throw them out before somebody has looked.

Getting an actual number

Condition, originality and configuration decide it, and none of the three can be judged from a description. We appraise firearms, collections and estates across Michigan and the Great Lakes region, free and with no obligation — you get a written list with a value against each firearm and it is yours to keep whether you sell to us or not.

Other makers

Winchester, Remington, Smith & Wesson, Marlin, Browning, Ruger and military surplus rifles.