and although it is not quite as historical as the clip from "life of brian"....raimey turned up here over the weekend in my searching for information about a gun currently auctioning on gunbroker...https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1102060964
a rather poorly kept gun with a fascinating story behind it; visually belgian, but bearing two sets of english proofs (1st 1887-96 london, and 2nd 1989-05 b'ham) and marked for sale under the name, l. p. ducasse of bordeaux, france.   as i often have little else to occupy my time, i have been down the rabbit hole to find what i can about this gun.   the photo of the patent "a.j.o. 326" turned up nothing in the three volumes of crudgington & baker's books - either under that number, or by those initials.   then searching under the french seller's name, i discover an astonishing tidbit....complete with raimey's footprints - 
https://www.shotgunworld.com/threads/12-gauge-side-by-side-shotgun-id-help.429649/what led me to use to term "astonishing", is the fact that there is an apparently identical gun, with a more legible photo of the patent stamping - which raimey declares as a.j.d. - and identifies as defourny of liege...(also inputs from humpty-dumpty, another of our members).
and the two gun's serial numbers & patent use numbers are both 3 numbers apart - raimey makes the assumption that the earlier gun was a sidelock, but the current subject gun is a side-plated ble (mislabeled by the seller as a sidelock).  the seller is a dumpster outlet for used/abused guns, and i expect is supplied by auction buyer(s) across the pond who are buying the dregs from low-end auctions - something these tariff changes may well curtail.
the next step in my discovery process revealed a useful article from another of our own, robertovich;   
https://shotguncollector.com/2016/06/06/brancquaert-and-defourny/here provided several useful facts; that all brancquaert guns were supplied by defourny; that there was an anson & deeley actioned boxlock made with single/double triggers, and with/without side plates - and has a picture of a "model 4", side plated and double triggered that appears to be these guns.   and, on into the article there is a useful distinction between the use of the french words "brevete" and "patente" - and the declaration that the "a.j.d patent" is only defourny's trade mark....but it would obviously create a serial numbering system for defourny.   and somewhere in my search, i read that defourny's shop was opened in 1894 - and that date combined with the 1st set of english proofs, would serve to pretty closely date the gun(s).
i have asked for some additional information about the gun - but have my doubts about how much help will be available from this business model - if the gun does not go into absurd territory....i may well buy the damn thing.
thanks today for raimey and robertovich for their knowledge - and to argo for his sense of humor.
best regards,
tom