diff --git a/src/MAT_HDF5.jl b/src/MAT_HDF5.jl
index c31ac82..00d2f54 100644
--- a/src/MAT_HDF5.jl
+++ b/src/MAT_HDF5.jl
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ function m_read(g::HDF5.Group)
             @warn "MATLAB $mattype values are currently not supported"
             return missing
         else
-            error("Cannot read from a non-struct group, type was $mattype")
+            @warn "Unknown non-struct group of type $mattype detected; attempting to read as struct"
         end
     end
     if haskey(g, "MATLAB_fields")
diff --git a/test/read.jl b/test/read.jl
index 67e62ab..4d8c9d4 100644
--- a/test/read.jl
+++ b/test/read.jl
@@ -230,3 +230,10 @@ let objtestfile = "struct_table_datetime.mat"
     @test "testDatetime" in keys(vars)
     @test ismissing(vars["testDatetime"])
 end
+
+# test reading of old-style Matlab object in v7.3 format
+let objtestfile = "old_class.mat"
+    vars = matread(joinpath(dirname(@__FILE__), "v7.3", objtestfile))
+    @test "tc_old" in keys(vars)
+    @test "foo" in keys(vars["tc_old"])
+end
diff --git a/test/v7.3/old_class.mat b/test/v7.3/old_class.mat
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6949f6c
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/v7.3/old_class.mat differ