Coin Description: Lima 1698 H Eight Reales. 25.9 gms. This attractive, well struck Eight Reales is from Capt. HurtadoÛªs tenure asassayer at Lima. Hurtado clearly made an effort to produce well struck coins on round, thick planchets. His initial (H) as well as the Lima mint mark (L) appear twice on the pillar side of the coin. The pillar side is struck slightly high, the cross side is nearly perfectly centered. The thick, smaller diameter planchet left little room for legends: only a trace of legend can be seen beneath the waves, and the name of the monarch, Carlos II, is nowhere visible. Notice that the date is given as two digits (98) sitting above a concave segment of the waves. This is a definitive feature of reales struck at Lima. Potosi wedged its date above a highly convex section of wave. See the Potosi 1700 and 1702 that follow. This coin from the Joel Ruth Hoard. This was found on the beach after Hurricane Jeanne, September 28, 2004. See “Lost Treasure” Magazine, January 2005, issue for complete story.