Well, I think Bryce hit pretty close to home. After working for a business selling cheapo wall-hangers and dealing with every Joe-Blo that came in thinking they knew all about swords, his description is about average. Only things that could be added is:

skulls....a truely intimidating sword has skulls to represent the enemies you have slain

gems/jewels.....you have to have the sparklies to make it very expensive looking, like what a king's sword would look like

gold/ silver plating on hilt....see above

full-tang......all real live-steel swords have to be full tang (like a butcher knife)

420 stainless.....well, this steel wont rust, and the number means it is really durable....only thing better is titanium!

the bigger the better.....those small, one handers are for trainees/ weak people!

has to come from Toledo or Japan...they make the best swords

Seriously, these, along with Bryce's descriptions, are what I heard almost every day while working at that place. People's impressions are based on Hollywood, as we all know. Oh, and don't get me started on the guys that came in knowing EVERYTHING about bladesmithing! You have to be amazed that they can make it through life in one piece.

Personally, I have always pictured the "classic sword" as resembling the Gaddhjalt from Albion. Still dreaming of the day I get to purchase one of them!

Heh. I suppose I was asking too much in hoping that the public would be able to differentiate between fantasy and real swords. :eek: It sounds as though my question is better posed directly to members of the general public, maybe with photos of a few historical type swords, rather than trying to guess at it here at myArmoury.

The idea of this thread caught my interest and I had the same thought as Craig, show some pictures of historically accurate swords to a few members of the non-sword-fanatical public and let them select which one most closely matches their perception of the quintessential medieval sword. So I selected a variety of Albion swords, printed pictures of them side-by-side and have decided to conduct a mini survey to satisfy some of my own curiosity and that of other forumites.
So here is the sword selection I decided on...

Single handers:
Poitiers
Gaddhjalt
Sherriff
Norman
Ritter
Senlac
Squire
Reeve

Bastard/Longswords
Baron
Landgraf
Duke
Mercenary
Viceroy
Agincourt
Crecy

Each surveyee will pick one single-hand and one longsword and also decide which is more essentially medieval in their eyes. I know that not all of the Oakeshott typologies are included. This survey will be neither large nor conclusive and I would welcome anyone else who wants to do something similar in their area, it would be interesting to compare results.