diff --git a/lib/helpers/simplify_claims.js b/lib/helpers/simplify_claims.js
index ebabee6b..45d7b904 100644
--- a/lib/helpers/simplify_claims.js
+++ b/lib/helpers/simplify_claims.js
@@ -80,10 +80,6 @@ const simplifyClaim = function (claim, ...options) {
   if (mainsnak) {
     datatype = mainsnak.datatype
     datavalue = mainsnak.datavalue
-    if (!datavalue) {
-      if (mainsnak.snaktype === 'somevalue') return options.somevalueValue
-      else return options.novalueValue
-    }
   } else {
     // Qualifiers have no mainsnak, and define datatype, datavalue on claim
     datavalue = claim.datavalue
@@ -93,6 +89,13 @@ const simplifyClaim = function (claim, ...options) {
     else isReferenceSnak = true
   }
 
+  if (!datavalue) {
+    const snaktype = (isQualifierSnak || isReferenceSnak) ? claim.snaktype : mainsnak.snaktype
+    if (snaktype === 'somevalue') return options.somevalueValue
+    else if (snaktype === 'novalue') return options.novalueValue
+    else throw new Error('no datavalue or special snaktype found')
+  }
+
   const value = parseClaim(datatype, datavalue, options, claim.id)
 
   // Qualifiers should not attempt to keep sub-qualifiers or references
diff --git a/test/data/Q19180293.json b/test/data/Q19180293.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..532d2e16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/data/Q19180293.json
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+{
+  "type": "item",
+  "id": "Q19180293",
+  "labels": {},
+  "aliases": {},
+  "claims": {
+    "P1433": [
+      {
+        "mainsnak": {
+          "snaktype": "value",
+          "property": "P1433",
+          "hash": "b5a3566c7c166b94bae127474751a968d0597146",
+          "datavalue": {
+            "value": {
+              "entity-type": "item",
+              "numeric-id": 28823728,
+              "id": "Q28823728"
+            },
+            "type": "wikibase-entityid"
+          },
+          "datatype": "wikibase-item"
+        },
+        "type": "statement",
+        "qualifiers": {
+          "P156": [
+            {
+              "snaktype": "somevalue",
+              "property": "P156",
+              "hash": "06ebe2529907ec88b14c16a08a845f15eb6942ef",
+              "datatype": "wikibase-item"
+            }
+          ],
+          "P1100": [
+            {
+              "snaktype": "novalue",
+              "property": "P1100",
+              "hash": "0f3aa5a76e4a90daa40720962d96200842d3ae58",
+              "datatype": "quantity"
+            }
+          ]
+        },
+        "id": "Q19180293$4570bfdc-4e34-6e50-e93a-3248db40737b",
+        "rank": "normal"
+      }
+    ]
+  },
+  "sitelinks": {}
+}
diff --git a/test/simplify_qualifiers.js b/test/simplify_qualifiers.js
index 8f931f7f..eafa53b7 100644
--- a/test/simplify_qualifiers.js
+++ b/test/simplify_qualifiers.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-require('should')
+const should = require('should')
 const { simplifyQualifier, simplifyPropertyQualifiers, simplifyQualifiers } = require('../lib/helpers/simplify_claims')
 const Q2112 = require('./data/Q2112.json')
+const Q19180293 = require('./data/Q19180293.json')
 
 describe('simplifyQualifier', function () {
   it('should simplify a qualifier', done => {
@@ -9,6 +10,30 @@ describe('simplifyQualifier', function () {
     simplified.should.equal('1953-01-01T00:00:00.000Z')
     done()
   })
+
+  describe('empty values', function () {
+    it('should return the desired novalueValue', function (done) {
+      const noValueQualifier = Q19180293.claims.P1433[0].qualifiers.P1100[0]
+      should(simplifyQualifier(noValueQualifier)).not.be.ok()
+      simplifyQualifier(noValueQualifier, { novalueValue: '-' }).should.equal('-')
+      simplifyQualifier(noValueQualifier, { novalueValue: '' }).should.equal('')
+      done()
+    })
+
+    it('should return the desired somevalueValue', function (done) {
+      const someValueQualifier = Q19180293.claims.P1433[0].qualifiers.P156[0]
+      should(simplifyQualifier(someValueQualifier)).not.be.ok()
+      simplifyQualifier(someValueQualifier, { somevalueValue: '?' }).should.equal('?')
+      simplifyQualifier(someValueQualifier, { somevalueValue: '' }).should.equal('')
+      done()
+    })
+
+    it('should accept null as a possible value', function (done) {
+      const noValueQualifier = Q19180293.claims.P1433[0].qualifiers.P1100[0]
+      should(simplifyQualifier(noValueQualifier, { novalueValue: null }) === null).be.true()
+      done()
+    })
+  })
 })
 
 describe('simplifyPropertyQualifiers', function () {
@@ -18,6 +43,28 @@ describe('simplifyPropertyQualifiers', function () {
     simplified.should.deepEqual([ '1953-01-01T00:00:00.000Z' ])
     done()
   })
+
+  describe('empty values', function () {
+    it('should return the desired novalueValue', function (done) {
+      const propQualifiers = Q19180293.claims.P1433[0].qualifiers.P1100
+      simplifyPropertyQualifiers(propQualifiers, { novalueValue: '-' }).should.deepEqual([ '-' ])
+      simplifyPropertyQualifiers(propQualifiers, { novalueValue: '' }).should.deepEqual([ '' ])
+      done()
+    })
+
+    it('should return the desired somevalueValue', function (done) {
+      const propQualifiers = Q19180293.claims.P1433[0].qualifiers.P156
+      simplifyPropertyQualifiers(propQualifiers, { somevalueValue: '?' }).should.deepEqual([ '?' ])
+      simplifyPropertyQualifiers(propQualifiers, { somevalueValue: '' }).should.deepEqual([ '' ])
+      done()
+    })
+
+    it('should accept null as a possible value', function (done) {
+      const propQualifiers = Q19180293.claims.P1433[0].qualifiers.P1100
+      simplifyPropertyQualifiers(propQualifiers, { novalueValue: null }).should.deepEqual([ null ])
+      done()
+    })
+  })
 })
 
 describe('simplifyQualifiers', function () {
@@ -27,4 +74,26 @@ describe('simplifyQualifiers', function () {
     simplified.P580.should.deepEqual([ '1953-01-01T00:00:00.000Z' ])
     done()
   })
+
+  describe('empty values', function () {
+    it('should return the desired novalueValue', function (done) {
+      const qualifiers = Q19180293.claims.P1433[0].qualifiers
+      simplifyQualifiers(qualifiers, { novalueValue: '-' }).P1100.should.deepEqual([ '-' ])
+      simplifyQualifiers(qualifiers, { novalueValue: '' }).P1100.should.deepEqual([ '' ])
+      done()
+    })
+
+    it('should return the desired somevalueValue', function (done) {
+      const qualifiers = Q19180293.claims.P1433[0].qualifiers
+      simplifyQualifiers(qualifiers, { somevalueValue: '?' }).P156.should.deepEqual([ '?' ])
+      simplifyQualifiers(qualifiers, { somevalueValue: '' }).P156.should.deepEqual([ '' ])
+      done()
+    })
+
+    it('should accept null as a possible value', function (done) {
+      const qualifiers = Q19180293.claims.P1433[0].qualifiers
+      simplifyQualifiers(qualifiers, { novalueValue: null }).P1100.should.deepEqual([ null ])
+      done()
+    })
+  })
 })