diff --git a/psycopg/adapter_binary.c b/psycopg/adapter_binary.c
index dcff6ca6..75cfa1c0 100644
--- a/psycopg/adapter_binary.c
+++ b/psycopg/adapter_binary.c
@@ -137,10 +137,8 @@ binary_quote(binaryObject *self)
     int buffer_len;
     size_t len = 0;
 
-    if (self->buffer == NULL)
-      self->buffer = PyString_FromString("");
     /* if we got a plain string or a buffer we escape it and save the buffer */
-    else if (PyString_Check(self->wrapped) || PyBuffer_Check(self->wrapped)) {
+    if (PyString_Check(self->wrapped) || PyBuffer_Check(self->wrapped)) {
         /* escape and build quoted buffer */
         PyObject_AsCharBuffer(self->wrapped, &buffer, &buffer_len);
 
@@ -151,8 +149,14 @@ binary_quote(binaryObject *self)
             return NULL;
         }
 
-        self->buffer = PyString_FromFormat("'%s'", to);
-        PQfreemem(to);
+	if (len > 0) {
+            self->buffer = PyString_FromFormat("'%s'", to);
+            PQfreemem(to);
+	}
+	else {
+            self->buffer = PyString_FromString("''");
+	    PQfreemem(to);
+	}
     }
     
     /* if the wrapped object is not a string or a buffer, this is an error */ 
diff --git a/tests/types_basic.py b/tests/types_basic.py
index 8a867df0..446ad153 100644
--- a/tests/types_basic.py
+++ b/tests/types_basic.py
@@ -62,9 +62,9 @@ class TypesBasicTests(TestCase):
         b = psycopg2.Binary(s)
 	r = str(self.execute("SELECT %s::bytea AS foo", (b,)))
         self.failUnless(r == s, "wrong binary quoting")
-
+        # test to make sure an empty Binary is converted to an empty string
         b = psycopg2.Binary('')
-        self.assertEqual(str(b), '')
+        self.assertEqual(str(b), "''")
 
     def testArray(self):
 	s = self.execute("SELECT %s AS foo", ([[1,2],[3,4]],))