diff --git a/Ledger/Amount.hs b/Ledger/Amount.hs
index 29023b5c2..1e79fe460 100644
--- a/Ledger/Amount.hs
+++ b/Ledger/Amount.hs
@@ -114,6 +114,12 @@ showAmount a@(Amount (Commodity {symbol=sym,side=side,spaced=spaced}) _ pri) =
       price = case pri of (Just pamt) -> " @ " ++ showMixedAmount pamt
                           Nothing -> ""
 
+-- XXX refactor
+-- | Get the unambiguous string representation of an amount, for debugging.
+showAmountDebug :: Amount -> String
+showAmountDebug (Amount c q pri) = printf "Amount {commodity = %s, quantity = %s, price = %s}"
+                                   (show c) (show q) (maybe "" showMixedAmountDebug pri)
+
 -- | Get the string representation of an amount, without any \@ price.
 showAmountWithoutPrice :: Amount -> String
 showAmountWithoutPrice a = showAmount a{price=Nothing}
@@ -171,11 +177,12 @@ mixedAmountEquals a b = amounts a' == amounts b' || (isZeroMixedAmount a' && isZ
 -- its component amounts. NB a mixed amount can have an empty amounts
 -- list in which case it shows as \"\".
 showMixedAmount :: MixedAmount -> String
-showMixedAmount m = concat $ intersperse "\n" $ map showfixedwidth as
-    where 
-      (Mixed as) = normaliseMixedAmount m
-      width = maximum $ map (length . show) as
-      showfixedwidth = printf (printf "%%%ds" width) . show
+showMixedAmount m = vConcatRightAligned $ map show $ amounts $ normaliseMixedAmount m
+
+-- | Get an unambiguous string representation of a mixed amount for debugging.
+showMixedAmountDebug :: MixedAmount -> String
+showMixedAmountDebug m = printf "Mixed [%s]" as
+    where as = intercalate "\n       " $ map showAmountDebug $ amounts $ normaliseMixedAmount m
 
 -- | Get the string representation of a mixed amount, but without
 -- any \@ prices.
diff --git a/Ledger/Parse.hs b/Ledger/Parse.hs
index d763d17b5..3ae2717c9 100644
--- a/Ledger/Parse.hs
+++ b/Ledger/Parse.hs
@@ -466,7 +466,7 @@ nosymbolamount = do
   <?> "no-symbol amount"
 
 commoditysymbol :: GenParser Char st String
-commoditysymbol = many1 (noneOf "-.0123456789;\n ") <?> "commodity symbol"
+commoditysymbol = many1 (noneOf "@-.0123456789;\n ") <?> "commodity symbol"
 
 priceamount :: GenParser Char st (Maybe MixedAmount)
 priceamount =
diff --git a/Ledger/Utils.hs b/Ledger/Utils.hs
index d2683e844..42f456815 100644
--- a/Ledger/Utils.hs
+++ b/Ledger/Utils.hs
@@ -95,6 +95,13 @@ concatBottomPadded strs = intercalate "\n" $ map concat $ transpose padded
                                            | otherwise = maximum $ map length ls
       padded = map (xpad . ypad) lss
 
+-- | Compose strings vertically and right-aligned.
+vConcatRightAligned :: [String] -> String
+vConcatRightAligned ss = intercalate "\n" $ map showfixedwidth ss
+    where
+      showfixedwidth = printf (printf "%%%ds" width)
+      width = maximum $ map length ss
+
 -- | Convert a multi-line string to a rectangular string top-padded to the specified height.
 padtop :: Int -> String -> String
 padtop h s = intercalate "\n" xpadded
diff --git a/Tests.hs b/Tests.hs
index 50b1beb9d..d83d50f7c 100644
--- a/Tests.hs
+++ b/Tests.hs
@@ -79,6 +79,9 @@ a `is` e = assertEqual "" e a
 parseis :: (Show a, Eq a) => (Either ParseError a) -> a -> Assertion
 parse `parseis` expected = either printParseError (`is` expected) parse
 
+assertParse :: (Show a, Eq a) => (Either ParseError a) -> a -> Assertion
+assertParse = parseis
+
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- | Tests for any function or topic. Mostly ordered by test name.
 tests :: [Test]
@@ -480,6 +483,9 @@ tests = [
   ,"ledgerposting" ~:
     parseWithCtx emptyCtx ledgerposting rawposting1_str `parseis` rawposting1
 
+  ,"normaliseMixedAmount" ~: do
+     normaliseMixedAmount (Mixed []) ~?= Mixed [nullamt]
+
   ,"parsedate" ~: do
     parsedate "2008/02/03" `is` parsetimewith "%Y/%m/%d" "2008/02/03" date1
     parsedate "2008-02-03" `is` parsetimewith "%Y/%m/%d" "2008/02/03" date1
@@ -672,6 +678,9 @@ tests = [
 
   ,"show hours" ~: show (hours 1) ~?= "1.0h"
 
+  ,"showMixedAmount" ~: do
+     showMixedAmount (Mixed []) ~?= "0"
+
   ,"showTransaction" ~: do
      assertEqual "show a balanced transaction, eliding last amount"
        (unlines
@@ -731,6 +740,26 @@ tests = [
          [Posting False "expenses:food:groceries" missingamt "" RegularPosting Nothing
          ] ""))
 
+     assertEqual "show a transaction with a priced commodityless amount"
+       (unlines
+        ["2010/01/01 x"
+        ,"    a        1 @ $2"
+        ,"    b              "
+        ,""
+        ])
+       (showTransaction
+        (txnTieKnot $ Transaction (parsedate "2010/01/01") Nothing False "" "x" ""
+         [Posting False "a" (Mixed [Amount unknown 1 (Just $ Mixed [Amount dollar{precision=0} 2 Nothing])]) "" RegularPosting Nothing
+         ,Posting False "b" missingamt "" RegularPosting Nothing
+         ] ""))
+
+  ,"someamount" ~: do
+     let -- | compare a parse result with a MixedAmount, showing the debug representation for clarity
+         assertMixedAmountParse parseresult mixedamount =
+             (either (const "parse error") showMixedAmountDebug parseresult) ~?= (showMixedAmountDebug mixedamount)
+     assertMixedAmountParse (parsewith someamount "1 @ $2")
+                            (Mixed [Amount unknown 1 (Just $ Mixed [Amount dollar{precision=0} 2 Nothing])])
+
   ,"unicode in balance layout" ~: do
     l <- ledgerFromStringWithOpts []
       "2009/01/01 * медвежья шкура\n  расходы:покупки  100\n  актив:наличные\n"