diff --git a/arangod/V8Server/v8-vocbase.cpp b/arangod/V8Server/v8-vocbase.cpp
index e086c1e509..fa9c96dcea 100644
--- a/arangod/V8Server/v8-vocbase.cpp
+++ b/arangod/V8Server/v8-vocbase.cpp
@@ -6233,7 +6233,7 @@ TRI_index_t* TRI_LookupIndexByHandle (const CollectionNameResolver& resolver,
   assert(collection->_collection != 0);
 
   // extract the document identifier and revision from a string
-  if (val->IsString() || val->IsStringObject()) {
+  if (val->IsString() || val->IsStringObject() || val->IsNumber()) {
     if (! IsIndexHandle(val, collectionName, iid)) {
       *err = TRI_CreateErrorObject(TRI_ERROR_ARANGO_INDEX_HANDLE_BAD,
                                    "<index-handle> must be an index-handle");
diff --git a/js/common/tests/shell-index.js b/js/common/tests/shell-index.js
index a59d4ab053..ce49093b80 100644
--- a/js/common/tests/shell-index.js
+++ b/js/common/tests/shell-index.js
@@ -141,6 +141,34 @@ function indexSuite() {
       assertEqual(false, res);
     },
 
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+/// @brief drop index by id string
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+    testDropIndexString : function () {
+      // pick up the numeric part (starts after the slash)
+      var id = collection.ensureGeoIndex("a").id.substr(cn.length + 1);
+      var res = collection.dropIndex(collection.name() + "/" + id);
+      assertEqual(true, res);
+
+      res = collection.dropIndex(collection.name() + "/" + id);
+      assertEqual(false, res);
+
+      id = collection.ensureGeoIndex("a").id.substr(cn.length + 1);
+      res = collection.dropIndex(parseInt(id, 10));
+      assertEqual(true, res);
+
+      res = collection.dropIndex(parseInt(id, 10));
+      assertEqual(false, res);
+
+      id = collection.ensureGeoIndex("a").id.substr(cn.length + 1);
+      res = internal.db._dropIndex(collection.name() + "/" + id);
+      assertEqual(true, res);
+
+      res = internal.db._dropIndex(collection.name() + "/" + id);
+      assertEqual(false, res);
+    },
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 /// @brief access a non-existing index
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////