As you can see, the obverse is very blurry while the reverse is sharp and clear. Any idea what caused this?
Both sides are blurry, but the obverse is blurrier than the reverse. What you need is a copy stand or tripod to stabilize the camera when you take each photo. The rest of the stuff might be die deterioration. You can tell by all of the parallel striations pointing toward the rim. Chris
Your camera is focusing on the background as opposed to the coin itself, and is particularly evident on the reverse photo in post #3. I do not have an exif reader on this phone, and cannot see what you're using, but keeping the above in mind, perhaps try again. Edit: okay, scratch that.... I just checked and you're using an iPhone 6. As Chris suggested, finding a way to stabilize the phone while shooting would be very helpful (even propping it up on books will work), but if you must shoot handheld, pay close attention to your screen while doing so. Sometimes it takes the phone a second or two to find focus.
I was editing my post when your response came in, but everything said still stands. I can see what you're questioning, but not well enough to formulate much of an opinion, and is why proper and in-focus photos may be a big help.
