CptCurl,
What a rifle!! I have a Thys .500. This rifle is a treasure to me. It is a sidelock fully engraved by Grifne. The engraving is Purdy style scroll on the locks and an Bulino elephant on the bottom much like the .577 above, without the gold inlay. The fit and finish is flawless and most importantly it shoots as well as any double I have ever shot. With my hand loads it shoots 4 shots into 2 - 2 1/2" at 50 yds.
I took the rifle to the SCI convention after I bought it to have Marcel Thys himself inspect it and he tried to buy it back from me!!
He seemed like a nice man but not too much english. That was the last time M Thys had a both at the convention.
its too bad his buisness is no longer around, as I feel that the rifles his company produced could be as fine as any english rifle but at a lesser price.