I understand that there are several people here who have handled original antique swords, I thought I'd ask around which of these you deemed the finest, also in terms of appearance, but especially in handling.

Let's focus on early and high middle ages here, so as not to stray too far and enable a reasonable comparison. Basically years 500 to 1400 AD should be fine (a few Late MA examples won't hurt), give or take a few.

EDIT: Personally, I haven't handled near enough original swords to say. I'm hoping to remedy this in the next couple of months / year.

I have never had the great pleasure of handling an origonal from the early middle ages 1000-1300 which I term the high middle ages, but man, that would be a joy!

Shodai Sengo Muramasa Wakizashi forged between 1416 and 1460.

This blade was originally a tachi, but was shortened during the Edo era.

Extremely fast and sharper than any other sword I've ever held. Very responsive in the hand and balanced to be equally good for cutting and thrusting.

Was polished about 20 years ago and has koshirae (in perfect condition) from the Shinshinto era.

Definitely an English Civil War cavalry sword/saber/backsword. Awesome handling, brilliant placement of guard and grip parts, etc. Simply awesome.

16th to 17th century rapier. It is the only original I've ever handled and even though it was heavily patinated and the grip was getting a bit loose, you could feel the purpose it was made for. The weirdest part was that it was somewhere it really shouldn't have been on loan (!) from the local military academy.

An 8th-9th century viking sword once housed in the Nelson Art Gallery in Kansas City. It was the first antique I ever handled. I still owe a huge debt of gratitude to the curator who took pity upon a sixteen year old kid, and actually let me handle the sword instead of merely staring at it from the other side of the glass. I don't remember your name sir, but thank you.