diff -r 0d5da548b80a Modules/_collectionsmodule.c
--- a/Modules/_collectionsmodule.c	Mon Nov 25 05:16:09 2013 +0200
+++ b/Modules/_collectionsmodule.c	Mon Nov 25 18:25:29 2013 +0800
@@ -1038,8 +1038,12 @@
         return -1;
     if (maxlenobj != NULL && maxlenobj != Py_None) {
         maxlen = PyLong_AsSsize_t(maxlenobj);
-        if (maxlen == -1 && PyErr_Occurred())
+        if (maxlen == -1 && PyErr_Occurred()) {
+            if (PyErr_ExceptionMatches(PyExc_TypeError))
+                PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError,
+                                "maxlen must be integer or None");
             return -1;
+        }
         if (maxlen < 0) {
             PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "maxlen must be non-negative");
             return -1;