Worst Dentil Alignment On An 8 Reales That I've Ever Seen

swamperbob has described how the typical die sinker will lightly inscribe a circle on the die to use as a reference when placing the dentil punch (these alignment lines are normally removed during die polishing). Typically the dentils are placed and punched so carefully that they look like an uninterrupted and evenly placed sequence of individual elements when actually the dentil punch consists of several lozenge shapes grouped together. In the referenced auction sale example, the die sinking of the dentils was not carefully aligned and the separate punches are clearly evident, especially near the date.

Here's an example of a matrix or die trial showing the individual elements that would be used to create each die punch. For the dentils, this one shows five lozenge shapes in one sequence and it appears that one end (the outward facing?) is more rounded than the other (inward facing?).