Where did the peso sign originate? What is its history? Below is my hypothesis on how the two horizontal lines found their way into the P.The Philippine peso was established on May 1, 1852, when the Banco Español-Filipino de Isabel (now the Bank of the Philippine Islands) introduced notes denominated in pesos fuertes. Pesos fuertes meant strong pesos and was written as PF.
The peso fuerte eventually replaced the Spanish real at a rate of 8 reales = 1 peso. Until 1886, the PF circulated alongside Mexican coins, some still denominated in reales and escudos (worth 2 pesos). The Mexican coins were eventually phased out by Philippine colonial authorities in 1886.Soon enough, the peso fuerte became known simply as peso. Similarly, writing the two letters P and F became cumbersome which prompted people to join them into a single symbol which eventually evolved into the Philippine Peso sign that we know today - a P crossed by two horizontal lines.
Makes sense right? Now, due to the lack of font support, the symbol is often substituted with a simple P, a P with one horizontal line instead of two, PHP, or PhP.
