Index: src/org/python/core/PyType.java
===================================================================
--- src/org/python/core/PyType.java	(revision 7066)
+++ src/org/python/core/PyType.java	(working copy)
@@ -121,7 +121,13 @@
                                         PyObject[] args, String[] keywords) {
         // Special case: type(x) should return x.getType()
         if (args.length == 1 && keywords.length == 0) {
-            return args[0].getType();
+            PyObject obj = args[0];
+            PyType objType = obj.getType();
+            PyType psmType = PyType.fromClass(PyStringMap.class);
+            if (objType == psmType) {
+                return PyDictionary.TYPE;
+            }
+            return objType;
         }
         // If that didn't trigger, we need 3 arguments. but ArgParser below may give a msg
         // saying type() needs exactly 3.