diff --git a/builtin-fast-export.c b/builtin-fast-export.c
index 34a419c38e..6731713223 100644
--- a/builtin-fast-export.c
+++ b/builtin-fast-export.c
@@ -363,7 +363,10 @@ static void get_tags_and_duplicates(struct object_array *pending,
 			break;
 		case OBJ_TAG:
 			tag = (struct tag *)e->item;
+
+			/* handle nested tags */
 			while (tag && tag->object.type == OBJ_TAG) {
+				parse_object(tag->object.sha1);
 				string_list_append(full_name, extra_refs)->util = tag;
 				tag = (struct tag *)tag->tagged;
 			}
@@ -376,11 +379,17 @@ static void get_tags_and_duplicates(struct object_array *pending,
 			case OBJ_BLOB:
 				handle_object(tag->object.sha1);
 				continue;
+			default: /* OBJ_TAG (nested tags) is already handled */
+				warning("Tag points to object of unexpected type %s, skipping.",
+					typename(tag->object.type));
+				continue;
 			}
 			break;
 		default:
-			die ("Unexpected object of type %s",
-			     typename(e->item->type));
+			warning("%s: Unexpected object of type %s, skipping.",
+				e->name,
+				typename(e->item->type));
+			continue;
 		}
 		if (commit->util)
 			/* more than one name for the same object */
diff --git a/t/t9301-fast-export.sh b/t/t9301-fast-export.sh
index b860626bee..8da9ce5459 100755
--- a/t/t9301-fast-export.sh
+++ b/t/t9301-fast-export.sh
@@ -262,4 +262,19 @@ test_expect_success 'cope with tagger-less tags' '
 
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'set-up a few more tags for tag export tests' '
+	git checkout -f master &&
+	HEAD_TREE=`git show -s --pretty=raw HEAD | grep tree | sed "s/tree //"` &&
+	git tag    tree_tag        -m "tagging a tree" $HEAD_TREE &&
+	git tag -a tree_tag-obj    -m "tagging a tree" $HEAD_TREE &&
+	git tag    tag-obj_tag     -m "tagging a tag" tree_tag-obj &&
+	git tag -a tag-obj_tag-obj -m "tagging a tag" tree_tag-obj
+'
+
+# NEEDSWORK: not just check return status, but validate the output
+test_expect_success 'tree_tag'        'git fast-export tree_tag'
+test_expect_success 'tree_tag-obj'    'git fast-export tree_tag-obj'
+test_expect_success 'tag-obj_tag'     'git fast-export tag-obj_tag'
+test_expect_success 'tag-obj_tag-obj' 'git fast-export tag-obj_tag-obj'
+
 test_done