diff --git a/include/pybind11/pytypes.h b/include/pybind11/pytypes.h
index 2e6b755ca..0dda48145 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/pytypes.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/pytypes.h
@@ -1382,7 +1382,7 @@ public:
 private:
     void advance() {
         value = reinterpret_steal<object>(PyIter_Next(m_ptr));
-        if (PyErr_Occurred()) {
+        if (value.ptr() == nullptr && PyErr_Occurred()) {
             throw error_already_set();
         }
     }