diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/Asset.pm b/lib/WebGUI/Asset.pm
index 03426414e..de15930f6 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/Asset.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/Asset.pm
@@ -1770,6 +1770,13 @@ sub new {
     if (defined $properties) {
         my $object = { _session=>$session, _properties => $properties };
         bless $object, $class;
+        foreach my $definition (@{ $object->definition($session) }) {
+            foreach my $property (keys %{ $definition->{properties} }) {
+                if ($definition->{properties}->{$property}->{serialize} && $object->{_properties}->{$property} ne '') {
+                    $object->{_properties}->{$property} = JSON->new->canonical->decode($object->{_properties}->{$property});
+                }
+            }
+        }
         return $object;
     }	
     $session->errorHandler->error("Something went wrong trying to instanciate a '$className' with assetId '$assetId', but I don't know what!");
diff --git a/t/Asset/JSONCollateral.t b/t/Asset/JSONCollateral.t
index e3f235be7..597f4b018 100644
--- a/t/Asset/JSONCollateral.t
+++ b/t/Asset/JSONCollateral.t
@@ -12,6 +12,14 @@ use FindBin;
 use strict;
 use lib "$FindBin::Bin/../lib";
 
+################################################################
+#
+# Checks that Assets can use WebGUI::JSONCollateral, that assets
+# can automatically serialize and deserialize data structures
+# and other asset functions work correctly.
+#
+################################################################
+
 use WebGUI::Test;
 use WebGUI::Session;
 use WebGUI::Asset;
@@ -38,7 +46,7 @@ create table jsonCollateralDummy (
 ) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
 EOSQL
 
-plan tests => 39;
+plan tests => 40;
 
 my $asset = WebGUI::Asset->getDefault($session)->addChild({
     className => 'WebGUI::Asset::JSONCollateralDummy',
@@ -83,6 +91,20 @@ cmp_deeply(
     'get returns a hash ref with data in it'
 );
 
+################################################################
+#
+# Checking Asset deserialization
+#
+################################################################
+
+my $assetClone = WebGUI::Asset->new($session, $asset->getId, 'WebGUI::Asset::JSONCollateralDummy');
+
+cmp_deeply(
+    $assetClone->get('jsonField'),
+    [ { alpha => "aye", beta => "bee"} ],
+    'new deserializes data from the db'
+);
+
 $asset->update({
     jsonField => [ ],
 });