1808 Contract Musket by Adam Kinsley with Massachusetts Markings,
Canton, Massachusetts, c. 1809.
44 5/8 in., .71 caliber round barrel with eagle head over 'CT' proof mark in a sunken oval cartouche, 'US' and 'V' struck on the left side of the barrel, the top stamped 'KINSL[EY],' 'to MS' and with a 'V' stamped in to the breech plug tang, serial number '8640' stamped on the top of the barrel inside the barrel band straps and '21' stamped on the top of the bayonet lug; flat lock plate with stamped spread wing eagle over 'US' below the pan, the inside of the plate stamped 'L' and the plate, tumbler, bridle, sear, cock, and steel marked '27'; walnut stock stamped on the left side behind the side plate 'MS' and with small shaved cheek rest on the left side of the comb; iron furniture of proper form, sling swivels, steel rammer with button head and threaded end.
Overall lg. 60 in.
Footnotes:
Provenance
Monty Whitley, 2019.

Note
Very few 1808 Kinsley Contract Muskets are known to survive.

Adam Kinsley is mentioned has having submitted a proposal to make contract guns on July 4, 1808, in a letter from Jonathan Smith to Tench Coxe, July 14, 1808, and a contract was awarded to partners Thomas French, Phineas Blake, and Adam Kinsley on October 20, 1808 to delivery 4,000 stands of arms to the Receiver of Public Arms in Boston within five years (Peter A. Schmidt, U.S. Military Flintlock Muskets and Their Bayonets, The Early Years 1790-1815, (Woonsocket, R.I.; Andrew Mowbray Publishers, 2006), pp. 185 and 225).

The 'US to MS' mark on the barrel and 'MS' mark on the stock indicate that this musket was allocated to Massachusetts under the provisions of the U.S. Militia Act of 1808 (George D. Moller, American Military Shoulder Arms, Volume II From the 1790s to the End of the Flintlock Period, (Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado, 1993), pp. 219).

Iron parts polished bright, lock functions properly, stock is in excellent condition, but likely refinished.