'The reversal of :meth:`dump_object`.  This might be called with
None.'

def load_object(self, value):

    if (value is None):
        return None
    if value.startswith('!'):
        try:
            return pickle.loads(value[1:])
        except pickle.PickleError:
            return None
    try:
        return int(value)
    except ValueError:
        return value
