diff --git a/swift/proxy/server.py b/swift/proxy/server.py
index 1c9da3f12e..3668ac81b5 100644
--- a/swift/proxy/server.py
+++ b/swift/proxy/server.py
@@ -1397,19 +1397,18 @@ class ObjectController(Controller):
             lcontainer = object_versions.split('/')[0]
             prefix_len = '%03x' % len(self.object_name)
             lprefix = prefix_len + self.object_name + '/'
+            last_item = None
             try:
-                raw_listing = self._listing_iter(lcontainer, lprefix,
-                                                 req.environ)
+                for last_item in self._listing_iter(lcontainer, lprefix,
+                                                    req.environ):
+                    pass
             except ListingIterNotFound:
-                # set raw_listing so that the actual object is deleted
-                raw_listing = []
+                # no worries, last_item is None
+                pass
             except ListingIterNotAuthorized, err:
                 return err.aresp
             except ListingIterError:
                 return HTTPServerError(request=req)
-            last_item = None
-            for item in raw_listing:  # find the last item
-                last_item = item
             if last_item:
                 # there are older versions so copy the previous version to the
                 # current object and delete the previous version
diff --git a/test/unit/proxy/test_server.py b/test/unit/proxy/test_server.py
index 4019b0408f..8738091a61 100644
--- a/test/unit/proxy/test_server.py
+++ b/test/unit/proxy/test_server.py
@@ -2622,6 +2622,46 @@ class TestObjectController(unittest.TestCase):
         versions = [x for x in body.split('\n') if x]
         self.assertEquals(len(versions), 1)
 
+        # Check for when the versions target container doesn't exist
+        sock = connect_tcp(('localhost', prolis.getsockname()[1]))
+        fd = sock.makefile()
+        fd.write('PUT /v1/a/whoops HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: localhost\r\n'
+                 'Connection: close\r\nX-Storage-Token: t\r\n'
+                 'Content-Length: 0\r\nX-Versions-Location: none\r\n\r\n')
+        fd.flush()
+        headers = readuntil2crlfs(fd)
+        exp = 'HTTP/1.1 201'
+        self.assertEquals(headers[:len(exp)], exp)
+        # Create the versioned file
+        sock = connect_tcp(('localhost', prolis.getsockname()[1]))
+        fd = sock.makefile()
+        fd.write('PUT /v1/a/whoops/foo HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: '
+            'localhost\r\nConnection: close\r\nX-Storage-Token: '
+            't\r\nContent-Length: 5\r\n\r\n00000\r\n')
+        fd.flush()
+        headers = readuntil2crlfs(fd)
+        exp = 'HTTP/1.1 201'
+        self.assertEquals(headers[:len(exp)], exp)
+        # Create another version
+        sock = connect_tcp(('localhost', prolis.getsockname()[1]))
+        fd = sock.makefile()
+        fd.write('PUT /v1/a/whoops/foo HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: '
+            'localhost\r\nConnection: close\r\nX-Storage-Token: '
+            't\r\nContent-Length: 5\r\n\r\n00001\r\n')
+        fd.flush()
+        headers = readuntil2crlfs(fd)
+        exp = 'HTTP/1.1 412'
+        self.assertEquals(headers[:len(exp)], exp)
+        # Delete the object
+        sock = connect_tcp(('localhost', prolis.getsockname()[1]))
+        fd = sock.makefile()
+        fd.write('DELETE /v1/a/whoops/foo HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: '
+            'localhost\r\nConnection: close\r\nX-Storage-Token: t\r\n\r\n')
+        fd.flush()
+        headers = readuntil2crlfs(fd)
+        exp = 'HTTP/1.1 2'  # 2xx response
+        self.assertEquals(headers[:len(exp)], exp)
+
     def test_chunked_put_lobjects(self):
         # Create a container for our segmented/manifest object testing
         (prolis, acc1lis, acc2lis, con2lis, con2lis, obj1lis, obj2lis) = \