diff --git a/rpc/types.go b/rpc/types.go
index 34a1451dea..f88c37c59d 100644
--- a/rpc/types.go
+++ b/rpc/types.go
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"math"
-	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common"
@@ -221,7 +220,7 @@ func (bnh *BlockNumberOrHash) Number() (BlockNumber, bool) {
 
 func (bnh *BlockNumberOrHash) String() string {
 	if bnh.BlockNumber != nil {
-		return strconv.Itoa(int(*bnh.BlockNumber))
+		return bnh.BlockNumber.String()
 	}
 	if bnh.BlockHash != nil {
 		return bnh.BlockHash.String()
diff --git a/rpc/types_test.go b/rpc/types_test.go
index f110dee7c6..617f441d91 100644
--- a/rpc/types_test.go
+++ b/rpc/types_test.go
@@ -153,3 +153,24 @@ func TestBlockNumberOrHash_WithNumber_MarshalAndUnmarshal(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestBlockNumberOrHash_StringAndUnmarshal(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []BlockNumberOrHash{
+		BlockNumberOrHashWithNumber(math.MaxInt64),
+		BlockNumberOrHashWithNumber(PendingBlockNumber),
+		BlockNumberOrHashWithNumber(LatestBlockNumber),
+		BlockNumberOrHashWithNumber(EarliestBlockNumber),
+		BlockNumberOrHashWithNumber(32),
+		BlockNumberOrHashWithHash(common.Hash{0xaa}, false),
+	}
+	for _, want := range tests {
+		marshalled, _ := json.Marshal(want.String())
+		var have BlockNumberOrHash
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(marshalled, &have); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("cannot unmarshal (%v): %v", string(marshalled), err)
+		}
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(want, have) {
+			t.Fatalf("wrong result: have %v, want %v", have, want)
+		}
+	}
+}