diff --git a/include/qpdf/QPDFObject.hh b/include/qpdf/QPDFObject.hh
index 6801cd5b..e6d1d18b 100644
--- a/include/qpdf/QPDFObject.hh
+++ b/include/qpdf/QPDFObject.hh
@@ -103,6 +103,12 @@ class QPDFObject
     {
         return value->qpdf;
     }
+    QPDFObjGen
+    getObjGen() const
+    {
+        return value->og;
+    }
+
     void
     setDescription(QPDF* qpdf, std::string const& description)
     {
diff --git a/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.hh b/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.hh
index d23d0fd4..399d1b01 100644
--- a/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.hh
+++ b/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.hh
@@ -1584,7 +1584,6 @@ class QPDFObjectHandle
         QPDF* qpdf,
         QPDFObjGen const& og,
         std::shared_ptr<QPDFObject> const& obj) :
-        og(og),
         obj(obj)
     {
     }
@@ -1640,7 +1639,6 @@ class QPDFObjectHandle
     // Moving members of QPDFObjectHandle into a smart pointer incurs
     // a substantial performance penalty since QPDFObjectHandle
     // objects are copied around so frequently.
-    QPDFObjGen og;
     std::shared_ptr<QPDFObject> obj;
 };
 
@@ -1864,19 +1862,19 @@ class QPDFObjectHandle::QPDFArrayItems
 inline QPDFObjGen
 QPDFObjectHandle::getObjGen() const
 {
-    return og;
+    return isInitialized() ? obj->getObjGen() : QPDFObjGen();
 }
 
 inline int
 QPDFObjectHandle::getObjectID() const
 {
-    return og.getObj();
+    return getObjGen().getObj();
 }
 
 inline int
 QPDFObjectHandle::getGeneration() const
 {
-    return og.getGen();
+    return getObjGen().getGen();
 }
 
 inline bool
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
index 2c93dcbf..7a614bbf 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
@@ -2282,8 +2282,6 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::copyObject(
                                " reserved object handle direct");
     }
 
-    og = QPDFObjGen();
-
     std::shared_ptr<QPDFObject> new_obj;
 
     if (isBool() || isInteger() || isName() || isNull() || isReal() ||