Index: Lib/email/test/test_email.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/email/test/test_email.py	(revision 71122)
+++ Lib/email/test/test_email.py	(working copy)
@@ -1560,6 +1560,11 @@
                               ('rg', None), ('\xe5', 'iso-8859-1'),
                               ('sbord', None)])
 
+    def test_rfc2047_with_special(self):
+        s = '=?utf-8?q?=E2=98=BA?=(unicode white smiling face)'
+        dh = decode_header(s)
+        self.assertEqual(dh, [('\xe2\x98\xba', 'utf-8'),
+                              ('(unicode white smiling face)', None)])
 
 
 # Test the MIMEMessage class