diff --git a/doc/v2/object.html b/doc/v2/object.html
index 10be8757..a8913c70 100644
--- a/doc/v2/object.html
+++ b/doc/v2/object.html
@@ -854,12 +854,12 @@ void del(proxy<T> const& x);
     </dl>
 <pre>
 <a name="comparisons-spec"></a>
-template&lt;class L,class R&gt; bool operator&gt;(L const&amp;l,R const&amp;r);
-template&lt;class L,class R&gt; bool operator&gt;=(L const&amp;l,R const&amp;r);
-template&lt;class L,class R&gt; bool operator&lt;(L const&amp;l,R const&amp;r);
-template&lt;class L,class R&gt; bool operator&lt;=(L const&amp;l,R const&amp;r);
-template&lt;class L,class R&gt; bool operator==(L const&amp;l,R const&amp;r);
-template&lt;class L,class R&gt; bool operator!=(L const&amp;l,R const&amp;r);
+template&lt;class L,class R&gt; object operator&gt;(L const&amp;l,R const&amp;r);
+template&lt;class L,class R&gt; object operator&gt;=(L const&amp;l,R const&amp;r);
+template&lt;class L,class R&gt; object operator&lt;(L const&amp;l,R const&amp;r);
+template&lt;class L,class R&gt; object operator&lt;=(L const&amp;l,R const&amp;r);
+template&lt;class L,class R&gt; object operator==(L const&amp;l,R const&amp;r);
+template&lt;class L,class R&gt; object operator!=(L const&amp;l,R const&amp;r);
 </pre>
 
     <dl class="function-semantics">
diff --git a/include/boost/python/object_operators.hpp b/include/boost/python/object_operators.hpp
index 0515309b..f27f88f8 100644
--- a/include/boost/python/object_operators.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/python/object_operators.hpp
@@ -73,17 +73,11 @@ object_operators<U>::operator!() const
 
 # define BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(op, opid)                              \
 template <class L, class R>                                             \
-BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_RETURN(bool) operator op(L const& l, R const& r)    \
+BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_RETURN(object) operator op(L const& l, R const& r)    \
 {                                                                       \
-    return PyObject_RichCompareBool(                                    \
+    return PyObject_RichCompare(                                    \
         object(l).ptr(), object(r).ptr(), opid);                        \
 }
-BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(>, Py_GT)
-BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(>=, Py_GE)
-BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(<, Py_LT)
-BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(<=, Py_LE)
-BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(==, Py_EQ)
-BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(!=, Py_NE)
 # undef BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP
     
 # define BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_OPERATOR(op)                               \
@@ -93,6 +87,12 @@ BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_RETURN(object) operator op(L const& l, R const& r)  \
 {                                                                       \
     return object(l) op object(r);                                      \
 }
+BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_OPERATOR(>)
+BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_OPERATOR(>=)
+BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_OPERATOR(<)
+BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_OPERATOR(<=)
+BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_OPERATOR(==)
+BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_OPERATOR(!=)
 BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_OPERATOR(+)
 BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_OPERATOR(-)
 BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_OPERATOR(*)
diff --git a/src/object_operators.cpp b/src/object_operators.cpp
index 5d8ffd6a..b6f1c5fb 100644
--- a/src/object_operators.cpp
+++ b/src/object_operators.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,24 @@
 
 namespace boost { namespace python { namespace api {
 
+# define BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(op, opid)                              \
+BOOST_PYTHON_DECL object operator op(object const& l, object const& r)  \
+{                                                                       \
+    return object(                                                      \
+        detail::new_reference(                                          \
+            PyObject_RichCompare(                                       \
+                l.ptr(), r.ptr(), opid))                                \
+            );                                                          \
+}
+BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(>, Py_GT)
+BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(>=, Py_GE)
+BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(<, Py_LT)
+BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(<=, Py_LE)
+BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(==, Py_EQ)
+BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP(!=, Py_NE)
+# undef BOOST_PYTHON_COMPARE_OP
+    
+
 #define BOOST_PYTHON_BINARY_OPERATOR(op, name)                          \
 BOOST_PYTHON_DECL object operator op(object const& l, object const& r)  \
 {                                                                       \