Well first of all I would definitely pay attention to anything Wallace told you about it as he sure seems to know his Euro work. I was always under the assumption that French fowlers of this stock shaping and furnishings - especially the guard - were of a ca. 1770s date and soon moved into the round lock phase during the 1770s and 1780s. Most of the time when I see a fowler like this in a Euro auction catalog, it is usually dated later. For all I know it could be 1750s - what I am using as a basis for comparison is a French double fowler that I owned a few years back made by Davier L'aine in Lyon. Tracking down the signature, all of the barrel markings on top and below the barrel (I was fortunate in that it had Tulle barrelmaker marks underneath) and the forge stampings on the iron furniture, we were able to very accurately date it to ca. 1755-1765. In comparison to this gun, it had a much earlier appearance: very large butt, the stereotypical "Tulle" shape to the stock and very early-looking furnishings. Locks were original flint and very similar to what is on yours. Unfortunately I seem to have lost my photos of it - might still have them on an old zip disk but have no way now to access them! I wrote an article about it in MB mag where I discussed all of the markings and took the whole thing apart. Don't know where it is now. I'm not saying yours is not 1750s, just that in my mind I had imagined this style to be later. Possibly, since yours was made in the metropolitan center of PAris and mine was made out in the sticks at Lyon, the difference is an issue of holdover provincial work vs. cutting-edge 'new' design.
