diff --git a/src/OpaqueVal.cc b/src/OpaqueVal.cc
index a5e65e7e7e..12581f3a77 100644
--- a/src/OpaqueVal.cc
+++ b/src/OpaqueVal.cc
@@ -53,7 +53,11 @@ StringVal* HashVal::DoGet()
   return new StringVal("");
   }
 
-HashVal::HashVal(OpaqueType* t) : OpaqueVal(t), valid(false) { }
+HashVal::HashVal(OpaqueType* t)
+  : OpaqueVal(t)
+  {
+  valid = false;
+  }
 
 IMPLEMENT_SERIAL(HashVal, SER_HASH_VAL);
 
@@ -113,7 +117,7 @@ bool MD5Val::DoInit()
 bool MD5Val::DoFeed(const void* data, size_t size)
   {
   if ( ! IsValid() )
-    return new StringVal("");
+    return false;
 
   md5_update(&ctx, data, size);
   return true;
@@ -220,7 +224,7 @@ bool SHA1Val::DoInit()
 bool SHA1Val::DoFeed(const void* data, size_t size)
   {
   if ( ! IsValid() )
-    return new StringVal("");
+    return false;
 
   sha1_update(&ctx, data, size);
   return true;
@@ -331,7 +335,7 @@ bool SHA256Val::DoInit()
 bool SHA256Val::DoFeed(const void* data, size_t size)
   {
   if ( ! IsValid() )
-    return new StringVal("");
+    return false;
 
   sha256_update(&ctx, data, size);
   return true;
diff --git a/src/Val.cc b/src/Val.cc
index 67a4579295..be7c4557fa 100644
--- a/src/Val.cc
+++ b/src/Val.cc
@@ -3114,16 +3114,13 @@ void VectorVal::ValDescribe(ODesc* d) const
 	d->Add("]");
 	}
 
-OpaqueVal::OpaqueVal(OpaqueType* t) : opaque_type(t) { }
+OpaqueVal::OpaqueVal(OpaqueType* t)
+  : Val(t)
+  {
+  }
 
 OpaqueVal::~OpaqueVal()
   {
-  Unref(opaque_type);
-  }
-
-bool OpaqueVal::IsValid() const
-  {
-  return false;
   }
 
 IMPLEMENT_SERIAL(OpaqueVal, SER_OPAQUE_VAL);
@@ -3131,15 +3128,13 @@ IMPLEMENT_SERIAL(OpaqueVal, SER_OPAQUE_VAL);
 bool OpaqueVal::DoSerialize(SerialInfo* info) const
 	{
 	DO_SERIALIZE(SER_OPAQUE_VAL, Val);
-	assert(opaque_type);
-	return opaque_type->Serialize(info);
+	return true;
 	}
 
 bool OpaqueVal::DoUnserialize(UnserialInfo* info)
 	{
 	DO_UNSERIALIZE(Val);
-	opaque_type = static_cast<OpaqueType*>(BroType::Unserialize(info));
-	return opaque_type != 0;
+	return true;
 	}
 
 
diff --git a/src/Val.h b/src/Val.h
index 925fb5a2b0..d6893306f2 100644
--- a/src/Val.h
+++ b/src/Val.h
@@ -1019,16 +1019,11 @@ public:
   OpaqueVal(OpaqueType* t);
   virtual ~OpaqueVal();
 
-  // Determines whether the opaque value is in a valid state.
-  virtual bool IsValid() const;
-
 protected:
   friend class Val;
   OpaqueVal() { }
 
 	DECLARE_SERIAL(OpaqueVal);
-
-  OpaqueType* opaque_type;
 };
 
 
diff --git a/testing/btest/Baseline/istate.opaque/expected.log b/testing/btest/Baseline/istate.opaque/expected.log
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1386a47db1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/Baseline/istate.opaque/expected.log
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+acbd18db4cc2f85cedef654fccc4a4d8
+0beec7b5ea3f0fdbc95d0dd47f3c5bc275da8a33
+2c26b46b68ffc68ff99b453c1d30413413422d706483bfa0f98a5e886266e7ae
+[entropy=0.918296, chi_square=423.666667, mean=108.0, monte_carlo_pi=nan, serial_correlation=-0.5]
diff --git a/testing/btest/Baseline/istate.opaque/output.log b/testing/btest/Baseline/istate.opaque/output.log
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1386a47db1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/Baseline/istate.opaque/output.log
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+acbd18db4cc2f85cedef654fccc4a4d8
+0beec7b5ea3f0fdbc95d0dd47f3c5bc275da8a33
+2c26b46b68ffc68ff99b453c1d30413413422d706483bfa0f98a5e886266e7ae
+[entropy=0.918296, chi_square=423.666667, mean=108.0, monte_carlo_pi=nan, serial_correlation=-0.5]
diff --git a/testing/btest/istate/opaque.bro b/testing/btest/istate/opaque.bro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..18b2b7021b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/istate/opaque.bro
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+#
+# @TEST-EXEC: bro -r $TRACES/empty.trace write.bro
+# @TEST-EXEC: bro read.bro
+# @TEST-EXEC: btest-diff expected.log
+# @TEST-EXEC: btest-diff output.log
+# @TEST-EXEC: cmp output.log expected.log
+
+@TEST-START-FILE read.bro
+
+global md5_handle: opaque of md5 &persistent &synchronized;
+global sha1_handle: opaque of sha1 &persistent &synchronized;
+global sha256_handle: opaque of sha256 &persistent &synchronized;
+global entropy_handle: opaque of entropy &persistent &synchronized;
+
+event bro_done()
+  {
+  local out = open("output.log");
+
+  # Finish incremental operations started by a previous Bro.
+  if ( md5_hash_update(md5_handle, "oo") )
+    print out, md5_hash_finish(md5_handle);
+  else
+    print out, "md5_hash_update() failed";
+    
+  if ( sha1_hash_update(sha1_handle, "oo") )
+    print out, sha1_hash_finish(sha1_handle);
+  else
+    print out, "sha1_hash_update() failed";
+
+  if ( sha256_hash_update(sha256_handle, "oo") )
+    print out, sha256_hash_finish(sha256_handle);
+  else
+    print out, "sha256_hash_update() failed";
+
+  if ( entropy_test_add(entropy_handle, "oo") )
+    print out, entropy_test_finish(entropy_handle);
+  else
+    print out, "entropy_test_add() failed";
+  }
+
+@TEST-END-FILE
+
+@TEST-START-FILE write.bro
+
+global md5_handle: opaque of md5 &persistent &synchronized;
+global sha1_handle: opaque of sha1 &persistent &synchronized;
+global sha256_handle: opaque of sha256 &persistent &synchronized;
+global entropy_handle: opaque of entropy &persistent &synchronized;
+
+event bro_init()
+  {
+	local out = open("expected.log");
+	print out, md5_hash("foo");
+	print out, sha1_hash("foo");
+	print out, sha256_hash("foo");
+	print out, find_entropy("foo");
+
+  # Begin incremental operations. Our goal is to feed the data string "foo" to
+  # the computation, but split into "f" and "oo" in two instances.. 
+  md5_handle = md5_hash_init();
+  if ( ! md5_hash_update(md5_handle, "f") )
+    print out, "md5_hash_update() failed";
+    
+  sha1_handle = sha1_hash_init();
+  if ( ! sha1_hash_update(sha1_handle, "f") )
+    print out, "sha1_hash_update() failed";
+
+  sha256_handle = sha256_hash_init();
+  if ( ! sha256_hash_update(sha256_handle, "f") )
+    print out, "sha256_hash_update() failed";
+
+  entropy_handle = entropy_test_init();
+  if ( ! entropy_test_add(entropy_handle, "f") )
+    print out, "entropy_test_add() failed";
+  }
+
+@TEST-END-FILE