All quite simple, Raimey. Lyon never was a gunmaking center (no proofhouse there, ever) unlike both St. Etienne and Paris. Why do you find it unusual for a French gunmaking family to sell guns in Lyon, even if they're made in St. Etienne? They also sold guns in Paris . . . per the same catalog (1930's) that tells us they sold guns in Lyon. And since catalogs are all about selling guns, why would they include incorrect information about where you can go to buy a Verney-Carron shotgun? Does not pass the very simple "logic" test--at least not for me.

As for whatever St. Etienne sourced from Liege . . . can't quite translate your sentence #2, paragraph #2. But if you're attempting to say they may have had barrels made elsewhere . . . OK, possible. So prove that's the case. We know for a fact that barrels were indeed made in France; we know for a fact that V-C advertised that the steel in their barrels came from a French steel-making company, or at least for some of their barrels. Possible, even with Holtzer steel, that the barrels were made in Liege? Sure. Also equally possible they were made in St. Etienne, unless there's proof that that is not the case.

As for V-C registering with the Liege proofhouse, are you suggesting that they did not also submit guns for proof in St. Etienne? Guess you have not looked at very many V-C guns, because all of them I've looked at (and owned) have been proofed in St. Etienne. We know for a fact that V-C absorbed several other French makers (including F. Darne). Why would it be impossible that they either bought out a Belgian maker, or licensed a Belgian maker to produce guns for them using their Helice design, then sell them in Belgium? If either of those is the case, makes more sense to get guns made in Liege proofed in Liege rather than in St. Etienne. Companies like Browning and Winchester have had millions of guns made in Japan. They also had them proofed in Japan. So let's just say that V-C's Liege operation was more of a case of that company being more aggressive about both having guns made for them and selling guns in Belgium--apparently for a fairly brief period of time, and perhaps interrupted by the Great Depression--than any Liege makers were about having guns both made for them and selling guns in France.

Good to see that you appreciate the technology behind the Helice guns. At least you're not telling us that it was actually designed by some Belgian. That's significant progress, in your case.