diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/poi/poifs/property/DirectoryProperty.java b/src/java/org/apache/poi/poifs/property/DirectoryProperty.java
index 5681ad5f0..e0d817cf0 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/poi/poifs/property/DirectoryProperty.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/poi/poifs/property/DirectoryProperty.java
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ public class DirectoryProperty
         return result;
     }
 
-    private class PropertyComparator
+    public static class PropertyComparator
         implements Comparator
     {
 
@@ -162,13 +162,40 @@ public class DirectoryProperty
 
         public int compare(Object o1, Object o2)
         {
+            String VBA_PROJECT = "_VBA_PROJECT";
             String name1  = (( Property ) o1).getName();
             String name2  = (( Property ) o2).getName();
-            int    result = name1.length() - name2.length();
+            int  result = name1.length() - name2.length();
 
             if (result == 0)
             {
-                result = name1.compareTo(name2);
+              // _VBA_PROJECT, it seems, will always come last
+              if (name1.compareTo(VBA_PROJECT) == 0)
+                result = 1;
+              else if (name2.compareTo(VBA_PROJECT) == 0)
+                result = -1;
+              else
+              {
+                if (name1.startsWith("__") && name2.startsWith("__"))
+                {
+                  // Betweeen __SRP_0 and __SRP_1 just sort as normal
+                  result = name1.compareToIgnoreCase(name2);
+                }
+                else if (name1.startsWith("__"))
+                {
+                  // If only name1 is __XXX then this will be placed after name2
+                  result = 1;
+                }
+                else if (name2.startsWith("__"))
+                {
+                  // If only name2 is __XXX then this will be placed after name1
+                  result = -1;
+                }
+                else
+                  // result = name1.compareTo(name2);
+                  // The default case is to sort names ignoring case
+                  result = name1.compareToIgnoreCase(name2);
+              }
             }
             return result;
         }
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/data/39234.xls b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/data/39234.xls
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..20fc9a001
Binary files /dev/null and b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/data/39234.xls differ
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/poifs/filesystem/TestPropertySorter.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/poifs/filesystem/TestPropertySorter.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7ddd2cca9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/poifs/filesystem/TestPropertySorter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+
+/* ====================================================================
+   Copyright 2002-2004   Apache Software Foundation
+
+   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+==================================================================== */
+
+package org.apache.poi.poifs.filesystem;
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+import junit.framework.ComparisonFailure;
+
+import java.io.*;
+import java.util.*;
+
+import org.apache.poi.poifs.property.DirectoryProperty;
+import org.apache.poi.poifs.property.Property;
+
+/**
+ * Verify the order of entries <code>DirectoryProperty</code> .
+ * <p>
+ * In particular it is important to serialize ROOT._VBA_PROJECT_CUR.VBA node.
+ * See bug 39234 in bugzilla. Thanks to Bill Seddon for providing the solution.
+ * </p>
+ *
+ * @author Yegor Kozlov
+ */
+public class TestPropertySorter extends TestCase {
+
+    //the correct order of entries in the test file
+    protected static final String[] _entries = {
+        "dir", "JML", "UTIL", "Loader", "Sheet1", "Sheet2", "Sheet3",
+        "__SRP_0", "__SRP_1", "__SRP_2", "__SRP_3", "__SRP_4", "__SRP_5",
+        "ThisWorkbook", "_VBA_PROJECT",
+    };
+
+    protected File testFile;
+
+    public void setUp(){
+        String home = System.getProperty("HSSF.testdata.path");
+        testFile = new File(home + "/39234.xls");
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test sorting of properties in <code>DirectoryProperty</code>
+     */
+    public void testSortProperties() throws IOException {
+        InputStream is = new FileInputStream(testFile);
+        POIFSFileSystem fs = new POIFSFileSystem(is);
+        is.close();
+        Property[] props = getVBAProperties(fs);
+
+        assertEquals(_entries.length, props.length);
+
+        // (1). See that there is a problem with the old case-sensitive property comparartor
+        Arrays.sort(props, new CaseSensitivePropertyComparator());
+        try {
+            for (int i = 0; i < props.length; i++) {
+                assertEquals(_entries[i], props[i].getName());
+            }
+            fail("case-sensitive property comparator returns properties in wrong order");
+        } catch (ComparisonFailure e){
+            ; // as expected
+        }
+
+        // (2) Verify that the fixed proeprty comparator works right
+        Arrays.sort(props, new DirectoryProperty.PropertyComparator());
+        for (int i = 0; i < props.length; i++) {
+            assertEquals(_entries[i], props[i].getName());
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Serialize file system and verify that the order of properties is the same as in the original file.
+     */
+    public void testSerialization() throws IOException {
+        InputStream is = new FileInputStream(testFile);
+        POIFSFileSystem fs = new POIFSFileSystem(is);
+        is.close();
+
+        ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        fs.writeFilesystem(out);
+        out.close();
+        is = new ByteArrayInputStream(out.toByteArray());
+        fs = new POIFSFileSystem(is);
+        is.close();
+        Property[] props = getVBAProperties(fs);
+        Arrays.sort(props, new DirectoryProperty.PropertyComparator());
+
+        assertEquals(_entries.length, props.length);
+        for (int i = 0; i < props.length; i++) {
+            assertEquals(_entries[i], props[i].getName());
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return array of properties read from ROOT._VBA_PROJECT_CUR.VBA node
+     */
+    protected Property[] getVBAProperties(POIFSFileSystem fs) throws IOException {
+        String _VBA_PROJECT_CUR = "_VBA_PROJECT_CUR";
+        String VBA = "VBA";
+
+        DirectoryEntry root = fs.getRoot();
+        DirectoryEntry vba_project = (DirectoryEntry)root.getEntry(_VBA_PROJECT_CUR);
+
+        DirectoryNode vba = (DirectoryNode)vba_project.getEntry(VBA);
+        DirectoryProperty  p = (DirectoryProperty)vba.getProperty();
+
+        ArrayList lst = new ArrayList();
+        for (Iterator it = p.getChildren(); it.hasNext();){
+            Property ch = (Property)it.next();
+            lst.add(ch);
+        }
+        return (Property [])lst.toArray(new Property[ 0 ]);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Old version of case-sensitive PropertyComparator to demonstrate the problem
+     */
+    private class CaseSensitivePropertyComparator  implements Comparator
+    {
+
+        public boolean equals(Object o)
+        {
+            return this == o;
+        }
+
+        public int compare(Object o1, Object o2)
+        {
+            String name1  = (( Property ) o1).getName();
+            String name2  = (( Property ) o2).getName();
+            int    result = name1.length() - name2.length();
+
+            if (result == 0)
+            {
+                result = name1.compareTo(name2);
+            }
+            return result;
+        }
+    }
+
+}