Done some more reading:
Sidney Lau's Contonese dictionary gives yet another name and calls them
Soochow characters ...but no real info.
Found a snippet more in Mathew's Chinese English dictionary, he calls them
fa máh jih as well, page 1178 if you happen to have access to this
dictionary it says:
"VIII The Chinese numerals
The Máh Jih are commonly used on accounts where no need exists for special
caution, they are used as in the above examples"
In the dictionary body itself he under Fa Máh he says "figures, the
abbreviated forms of the figures"
The only thing I disagree with are his examples above 100, but it might be
that thats boiling down to regional differences in usage.
... seems that these numerals were a third set, the first "complicated" set
used to prevent fraud, then the "normal ones" for everyday use and then the
abbrevaited ones ...
I'll keep looking
Michael
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