Symbol used in Commerce and Finance

[Bert]

This may not be the best topic area for my question, but I cannot think of a better one. I have a very small English dictionary (10 cm X 6.5 cm and 2.5 cm thick) called 'The Diamond Dictionary'. There is no publication date, but it must be over 50 years old. At the back there is a list of 'Symbols used in Commerce and Finance'. These include such symbols as �,$, @ and %. But there is one symbol I have never seen anywhere. It is a symbol that stands for 'per' as in 'dinners, 5s. per head' (the example given). The symbol looks a bit like a very fancy 'U', with a small 'tick' on the left vertical and the right vertical is continued clockwise and then loops around the left vertical in the middle and back across the right vertical. Does anybody know what I am referring to? Has anybody seen it used? Does it have a name (like ampersand for &). Does anybody know its origin?

[Pigletion]

http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2590.pd f

This might help, it has a picture of it and "Additional information about the Per sign".

Can't find a name though, however I didn't explore all the additional info. Curious now!

[dr b]

I couldn't find any reference to it being called anything other than the "per sign."

http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2 14c/index.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letterlike_Symbol s

[Bert]

Thank you, both of you. Dr b's first link shows that the symbol is a very fancy 'P', which probably explains the derivation of the symbol, though Pigletion's link shows the symbol more as I have it in my dictionary (which looks nothing like a fancy 'P').
The futher information seems to be in the OED, which would need a subscription. So it may rest there. At least you have helped me see that the symbol exists in other places, as well as my dictionary, even if it is little used.