I speak French, but I'm no good with the accent marks either, on a computer!
6Bears, it's "canon de surete". I've seen that on a lot of French guns. Those are safe barrels, I guess.
Concerning #1, the depose does not go with the qualite superieure. Depose relates to the mark underneath it, meaning the mark is registered or trademarked. Qualite and superieure go together--superior quality--even though the trademark is in between. Refers either to the quality of the barrels or the steel from which they're made.
Dovetail lump is less expensive than chopper lump, and chopper lump is always taken to be a mark of a higher quality gun. But in fact, most British guns were also made with dovetail lumps, and it's a perfectly sound system.
Crown over a V would not be a British reproof mark. That'd be crown over an R. If the V were in a circle with a crown over it, that would be the British mark for a foreign arm, from 1925-55. Without the circle, V under a crown is the view mark of the London proofhouse. Wonder if maybe the gun wasn't imported to England? But I don't know what other marks they would have put on the gun, in addition to that one. Still a bit of a mystery.
Even though you do need to watch out for shells of the wrong length, I've never seen 65 stamped all over a gun like that. Usually on a French gun, the only place you find them is on the barrel flats, right where these are marked. And it's very unusual to find a French gun without a serial number.
