(I'll post photos that contain only a partial SSN. So mystery solved, mea culpa, and thanks again to all for the input. He apparently was in the habit of engraving this symbol on his tools as well. His brother's SSN ended in '1911', and the symbol was the brother's three initials combined into one icon. I took some photos of the number and the symbol, after learning above that Colt markings are stamped, not engraved and sent them to the guy who sold me the gun. The last 4 digits of the number were '1911', and of course the pistol is a 1911 so I assumed the number was something from the manufacturer. I was wrong about the original owner not removing the grips - even though they were stuck hard to the frame by 20 years of what must have been gun oil at one point. This Colt Mk IV Series 80 ultimate bright stainless gov't model was manufactured in 1993, shipped in the same year. Well, I'm posting to thank folks again for their input, and to eat crow for posting a strong statement it turns out I was wrong about. If I can figure out how to post photos, I'll show you what I'm referring to. So.whatever markings are beneath those grips were there when the original owner first bought the pistol new from a dealer - direct from Colt.

The brother of the fellow who died indicated that his brother only shot the pistol infrequently, he wasn't much into guns or shooting and he didn't know that much about them. This is a Colt Mk IV Series 80 Ultimate Bright Stainless Enhanced pistol made sometime between 19 (?) - awaiting more detail.

Plus, I know for a fact the initial owner never removed the wrap-around pebbled rubber grips: when I removed them to install some American Elk grip slabs by Eagle there was a thin layer of adhesive (or 20 year old gun oil) beneath the original factory rubber grips. Colt Python owners can identify the general date of their weapons manufacture by checking for certain characteristics, such as the serial number sequencing. The first owner died some 8-9 years ago, and the pistol has been stored since. I'm only the second owner of this pistol. I'm reasonably certain the markings were put there by the manufacturer. I'm technologically challenged, but will try to take photos of the engraved numbers and codes and post them. Thank you Dfariswheel for the information.

Colt serial number date of manufacture