LOL! Good one David! and actually I'ver been known to have a Drambuie or two while on these 'adventures' .......there was the incident of swinging the tulwar around during a stirring rendition of some heavy metal thunder and forgetting about the ceiling fan whirring above me
Good points on the stripes not likely being French, and agreed it seems the French in these times favored an elliptical shape on most langets. It's funny, noting your mention of SFI.....over there it is strictly verboten to mention our forum ......I was warned in one instance where I did, just prior to my encouragement to leave entirely for the unforgivable transgression of posting too much. Here there is no problem, we are aware there are other forums and actually have no fear of that. Here I'm free to babble as much as I like
The vertical fluting was much favored as early as Revolutionary War (checked Neumann, but no luck), also checked Blair, no luck there either.
French weapons are pretty specialized, and I sure miss having Jean Binck around. The guys who have references like Buigne and Aries dont seem to visit here much and we seldom see French swords posted.
The search goes on.
All the best,
Jim