Background: The "sword in the stone" from the 1963 Disney film is high on my list of dream swords. I am not a particular fan of the movie itself, but I think the design of the sword perfectly captures a romanticized, hollywood image of what a knightly sword is. I've been slowly mulling over the project for a few years- I'm in no rush to get it made, but this thread pushed me to at least start organizing my thoughts/ideas. Hopefully this will inspire the OP or any other fans to jump on it. This will definitely take me multiple posts/edits, as I tend to be kinda nitpicky (easy to please, hard to impress).
I am posting this in a collaborative spirit. If you have any photos that will help the design process along, please add them. I'll ask for specific ideas down below which will be italicized. I hunger for your input!Initial Impressions/ReferencesThe Sword in the Stone 
These are the best looks of the sword itself I could find and within the movie they are decently consistent. The collar on the handle in the close up of the inscription and the spiral (wrap? Inlay?) doesn't appear in most shots. The engraving on the blade also doesn't appear in most shots (enchantment?), nor does the apparent ricasso. I rewatched this movie during the pandemic but remember very little of it, so if any of you know the film better, please let me know.
Aesthetic/ContextThe sword has a very English feel to it, but I think it would be misguided to contextualize it in a medieval context. It was designed by Disney artists in the 20th century and aesthetically aligns more with Hollywood swords of that time.
If there are any fans of mid-century Hollywood swashbucklers, please post photos of swords used in those films. The sword also reminds me of Victorian fakes/replicas of medieval swords
(please add photos if you have them).
Examples of Victorian Repros of Medieval Swords
When I eventually commission this sword, I am going to push for a Hollywood/Victorian aesthetic, rather than a medieval aesthetic. I realize a lot of this is subjective, and that I'm not yet versed enough to articulate how that exactly manifests practically-aesthetics tend to be memetic and swords from a particular place, time, culture often have a similar "feel" to each other. This one just "feels" Hollywood/Victorian to me. The base form factor can be the same, but a group's aesthetic will affect the proportions, thicknesses, beveling, finishing in little ways that add up to an overall impression that can often be pretty distinct.
Thoughts? There were a few photos I found of Victorian repros of some very popular medieval sword designs (popular to our collecting community), a lot of them were behind a sign-up wall and so I couldn't download them. Comparing two iterations of the same design, hundreds of years apart is a great way to boil down specifics in aesthetics.
Size/Proportions
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Based on seeing the sword in the hands of a kid and two adults, I'd say this is a smaller bastard sword size. 35" in blade max, probably closer to 32", even 30". I suppose you can dial to taste. A large adult's hand takes of majority of the the grip, without enough to comfortably fit both.
By my estimation, it's in the ballpark of A&A's Edward III or Albion's squattier XVa's (Castellan, Mercenary, etc.)
Blade
XVIIIc is a great starting point. An important detail of the movie sword however is the sharp delineation of the tip and the blade; much like a Pompeii style gladius. This is a common design feature of Hollywood swords from the period, especially in animation. It's a design trope that's common even today (e.g a lot of video games swords, including Link's swords from the Zelda series). I think this detail is a must have and is simple to do.
Do these types of angulated tips appear on any prominent medieval weapons? Or is it a mainly gladius thing? Some posters show the blade as hollow-ground, but nothing in the movie indicates that it is to me. That said, a hollow-ground diamond always looks great and it wouldn't be far stretch to go ahead and order it hollow ground, if you fancy the look. CORRECTION: If you look at picture of the dark haired man examining the blade, the reflection is curved near the midrib of the sword. This actually indicates some hollow grinding! I still think you can interpret either way, but that particular artist drew it hollow ground (ish)!
The Alexandria XVIIIc's have engravings similar to the sword in the stone and provide a good reference. Interpretation is needed in whether there is a ricasso framing the engraving. Several options...(1) give the sword a common ricasso, which fits a Victorian/Hollywood aesthetic and give the engravings a nice frame. This runs into the issue, though of not matching the other shots of the sword, which show a diamond section throughout. (2) Accept that this shot is a one off and that the artist of the close up added a ricasso for visual emphasis. Engrave the sword the same way the Alexandrian sword is engraved, making no change to the cross section. (3) Interpret the line below the text not as a ricasso, but as a cross sectional change. In particular, a change from a flattened diamond to a lenticular cross section. This naturally happens on lesser replicas that struggle to grind a pronounced central ridge.
I'd personally go for the 3rd option, but I think the other two would be perfectly legitimate for any fan of the movie.
Fun Ideas: Enamel the engravings with lume (like on a watch) so it glows in the dark. Or inlay it with gold.
As for the finish of the blade, I think a mirror polish would work best. I personally think it's implied, but not drawn with reflections for budget and logistical reasons. It's shown very bright in even dim shots, which to me suggests a mirror polish.
Crossguard
I think the very iconic English type 9 guard is correct for the sword with the added detail of the protruding point in the middle of the cross guard (like the one on Narsil/Anduril). The protrusion is very pronounced in all the close ups and is a feature not on many medieval originals. The Westminster Abbey Henry V provides a good example of what animators were probably going for. The thinness and elegance of the guard should be noted, but the sweep is of a different shape.
As far as the crossguard goes, I think the images a very detailed and consistent from shot to shot. The geometry is quite complex and the animators took the time to draw it out in each shot. For any detailed oriented smith, the photos should be plenty to get it right. It and the pommel could easily be copied verbatim. Trapezoidal cross section.
Brass for budget and gold plated for splurging. Albion's Discerner and A&A's Edward's III and Medici Falchion are good examples for finishing. This sword should feel posh!
Pommel and HandleThe pommel is quite clearly a ball pommel. The Victorian ceremonial swords above show the general idea. Note the use of collars on the handle, and the ball (or ball ish) pommels. The grip even has spiraling like in the movie. This confirms to me that the artists were greatly influenced by this time period's aesthetic more than the medieval "originals."
The handle itself is open to interpretation, but I think the main detail to get right is the spiraling in the grip, whatever you decide it to be. The grip is colored golden in most shots, but in the close up it could almost be a yellowish wood color (1). Notice how the tone isn't exactly the same. (2) A posh way would be to do a spiraled, gold tone wire wrap on it, which is what I'm personally leaning towards. (3) Or the grip itself could be a solid piece of engraved metal (like Windlass's spadroons (
was that historical?)).
Misc Notes and Final Ideas
Here's Disney's own (lazy) interpretation. They went with the ricasso interpretation and botched the proportions. The crossguard isn't accurate, but I don't blame them. The crossguard is pretty complex in the movie. It's a good reference though.
Being a sword in a cartoon, there are naturally things we have to (get to) interpret. The thing the animators absolutely nail is the proportions. This is a beautiful sword. Getting the proportions correct is paramount. The degree of sweep of the guard and its thickness, the taper and length of the handle, the size of the ball pommel, the width of the blade and the length of the blade and the relationship of all these elements together will make or break the replica. It will make it "feel" like the movie sword or not. I think the details can be interpreted several ways, but the proportions must be correct. I'd even sacrifice handling characteristics to get the proportions looking right, though I don't think you'd have to.
Conclusion
I know this may seem obsessive, but I hope this is the one place where my obsessiveness may be appreciated. This sword has been on my list for a long time. Thanks to the OP for inspiring me to get on compiling my thoughts on it. I hope it's useful to others. It'd be a dream if someone else made this first and I could just order a duplicate! Haha. The project is years away for me, but it'll get there.
If the OP or some other reader gets to it first, PLEASE complete the display with the stone and anvil! Or maybe commission the piece in a highly corrosion resistant stainless and display it outside! Lots of fun to be had.
If you've made it this far, thank you! Please chime in with your input! I hope to refine my ideas on this cartoon sword.
