diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hpsf/SpecialPropertySet.java b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hpsf/SpecialPropertySet.java
index c40641aa9..993765f6a 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hpsf/SpecialPropertySet.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hpsf/SpecialPropertySet.java
@@ -51,17 +51,14 @@ import org.apache.poi.util.LittleEndian;
  * general {@link PropertySet}.  However, the current implementation
  * went the other way round historically: the convenience classes came
  * only late to my mind.</p>
- *
- * @author Rainer Klute <a
- * href="mailto:klute@rainer-klute.de">&lt;klute@rainer-klute.de&gt;</a>
  */
 public abstract class SpecialPropertySet extends MutablePropertySet
 {
-	/**
-	 * The id to name mapping of the properties
-	 *  in this set.
-	 */
-	public abstract PropertyIDMap getPropertySetIDMap();
+    /**
+     * The id to name mapping of the properties
+     *  in this set.
+     */
+    public abstract PropertyIDMap getPropertySetIDMap();
 
     /**
      * <p>The "real" property set <code>SpecialPropertySet</code>
@@ -332,15 +329,17 @@ public abstract class SpecialPropertySet extends MutablePropertySet
      * @return The property as a String, or null if unavailable
      */
     protected String getPropertyStringValue(final int propertyId) {
-        Object o = getProperty(propertyId);
-        
+        Object propertyValue = getProperty(propertyId);
+        return getPropertyStringValue(propertyValue);
+    }
+    protected static String getPropertyStringValue(final Object propertyValue) {
         // Normal cases
-        if (o == null) return null;
-        if (o instanceof String) return (String)o;
+        if (propertyValue == null) return null;
+        if (propertyValue instanceof String) return (String)propertyValue;
         
         // Do our best with some edge cases
-        if (o instanceof byte[]) {
-            byte[] b = (byte[])o;
+        if (propertyValue instanceof byte[]) {
+            byte[] b = (byte[])propertyValue;
             if (b.length == 0) {
                 return "";
             }
@@ -356,7 +355,7 @@ public abstract class SpecialPropertySet extends MutablePropertySet
             // Maybe it's a string? who knows!
             return new String(b);
         }
-        return o.toString();
+        return propertyValue.toString();
     }
 
 
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hpsf/extractor/HPSFPropertiesExtractor.java b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hpsf/extractor/HPSFPropertiesExtractor.java
index 7907408c0..7150b6c1c 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hpsf/extractor/HPSFPropertiesExtractor.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hpsf/extractor/HPSFPropertiesExtractor.java
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ import org.apache.poi.hpsf.SummaryInformation;
 import org.apache.poi.hpsf.wellknown.PropertyIDMap;
 import org.apache.poi.poifs.filesystem.NPOIFSFileSystem;
 import org.apache.poi.poifs.filesystem.POIFSFileSystem;
-import org.apache.poi.util.LittleEndian;
 
 /**
  * Extracts all of the HPSF properties, both
@@ -66,7 +65,7 @@ public class HPSFPropertiesExtractor extends POITextExtractor {
             Iterator<String> keys = cps.nameSet().iterator();
             while (keys.hasNext()) {
                 String key = keys.next();
-                String val = getPropertyValueText( cps.get(key) );
+                String val = HelperPropertySet.getPropertyValueText( cps.get(key) );
                 text.append(key + " = " + val + "\n");
             }
         }
@@ -98,35 +97,12 @@ public class HPSFPropertiesExtractor extends POITextExtractor {
                 type = typeObj.toString();
             }
 
-            String val = getPropertyValueText( props[i].getValue() );
+            String val = HelperPropertySet.getPropertyValueText( props[i].getValue() );
             text.append(type + " = " + val + "\n");
         }
 
         return text.toString();
     }
-    private static String getPropertyValueText(Object val) {
-        if (val == null) {
-            return "(not set)";
-        }
-        if (val instanceof byte[]) {
-            byte[] b = (byte[])val;
-            if (b.length == 0) {
-                return "";
-            }
-            if (b.length == 1) {
-                return Byte.toString(b[0]);
-            }
-            if (b.length == 2) {
-                return Integer.toString( LittleEndian.getUShort(b) );
-            }
-            if (b.length == 4) {
-                return Long.toString( LittleEndian.getUInt(b) );
-            }
-            // Maybe it's a string? who knows!
-            return new String(b);
-        }
-        return val.toString();
-    }
 
     /**
      * @return the text of all the properties defined in
@@ -142,6 +118,18 @@ public class HPSFPropertiesExtractor extends POITextExtractor {
     public POITextExtractor getMetadataTextExtractor() {
         throw new IllegalStateException("You already have the Metadata Text Extractor, not recursing!");
     }
+    
+    private static abstract class HelperPropertySet extends SpecialPropertySet {
+        public HelperPropertySet() {
+            super(null);
+        }
+        public static String getPropertyValueText(Object val) {
+            if (val == null) {
+                return "(not set)";
+            }
+            return SpecialPropertySet.getPropertyStringValue(val);
+        }
+    }
 
     public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
         for (String file : args) {