diff --git a/object.c b/object.c
index 16eb944e98..fad1a5af4a 100644
--- a/object.c
+++ b/object.c
@@ -286,8 +286,8 @@ struct object *parse_object_with_flags(struct repository *r,
 			return &commit->object;
 	}
 
-	if ((obj && obj->type == OBJ_BLOB && repo_has_object_file(r, oid)) ||
-	    (!obj && oid_object_info(r, oid, NULL) == OBJ_BLOB)) {
+	if ((!obj || (obj && obj->type == OBJ_BLOB)) &&
+	    oid_object_info(r, oid, NULL) == OBJ_BLOB) {
 		if (!skip_hash && stream_object_signature(r, repl) < 0) {
 			error(_("hash mismatch %s"), oid_to_hex(oid));
 			return NULL;
diff --git a/t/t6102-rev-list-unexpected-objects.sh b/t/t6102-rev-list-unexpected-objects.sh
index 4a9a4436e2..9350b5fd2c 100755
--- a/t/t6102-rev-list-unexpected-objects.sh
+++ b/t/t6102-rev-list-unexpected-objects.sh
@@ -121,8 +121,8 @@ test_expect_success 'setup unexpected non-blob tag' '
 	tag=$(git hash-object -w --literally -t tag broken-tag)
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'TODO (should fail!): traverse unexpected non-blob tag (lone)' '
-	git rev-list --objects $tag
+test_expect_success 'traverse unexpected non-blob tag (lone)' '
+	test_must_fail git rev-list --objects $tag
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'traverse unexpected non-blob tag (seen)' '