4 Reales - Philip II

In 1577 the Lima Mint restarted coin production with new dies sent by Spain.  The assayer Xinés Martínez begun minting this Second Series of the Lima Mint with the new design of the crowned Hapsburg shield keeping his mark X.  Martínez was succeeded at the end of the same year by Diego de la Torre, who marked his coins - ¼ , ½ , 1, 2, 4 and 8 Reales -  with a D°. 

To differentiate the Lima coinage from the Potosí coinage which also used the P of Perú since it’s opening in 1573, Lima added a six pointed star to the mintmark P.

There are plenty of varieties depending on the position of the star, the D° and P. At the beginning de la Torre used Martínez’ dices, which explains the existence of very rare coins with the superposition of his D° on Martínez’ marks 

Due to a devastating earthquake which hurt and almost destroyed Lima, the Lima Mint ceased it’s production in 1586, closed in 1588 and officially reopened only in 1684.