diff --git a/JSONObject.java b/JSONObject.java
index bba5779..d835438 100644
--- a/JSONObject.java
+++ b/JSONObject.java
@@ -1024,14 +1024,12 @@ public class JSONObject {
                 || val instanceof Short || val instanceof Byte){
             return new BigDecimal(((Number) val).longValue());
         }
-        if (val instanceof String) {
-            try {
-                return new BigDecimal((String) val);
-            } catch (Exception e) {
-                return defaultValue;
-            }
+        // don't check if it's a string in case of unchecked Number subclasses
+        try {
+            return new BigDecimal(val.toString());
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            return defaultValue;
         }
-        return defaultValue;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -1063,19 +1061,17 @@ public class JSONObject {
                 || val instanceof Short || val instanceof Byte){
             return BigInteger.valueOf(((Number) val).longValue());
         }
-        if (val instanceof String) {
-            try {
-                // the other opt functions handle implicit conversions, i.e. 
-                // jo.put("double",1.1d);
-                // jo.optInt("double"); -- will return 1, not an error
-                // this conversion to BigDecimal then to BigInteger is to maintain
-                // that type cast support that may truncate the decimal.
-                return new BigDecimal((String) val).toBigInteger();
-            } catch (Exception e) {
-                return defaultValue;
-            }
+        // don't check if it's a string in case of unchecked Number subclasses
+        try {
+            // the other opt functions handle implicit conversions, i.e. 
+            // jo.put("double",1.1d);
+            // jo.optInt("double"); -- will return 1, not an error
+            // this conversion to BigDecimal then to BigInteger is to maintain
+            // that type cast support that may truncate the decimal.
+            return new BigDecimal(val.toString()).toBigInteger();
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            return defaultValue;
         }
-        return defaultValue;
     }
 
     /**