diff --git a/src/google/appengine/ext/ndb/model.py b/src/google/appengine/ext/ndb/model.py
index 4671662..069aff5 100755
--- a/src/google/appengine/ext/ndb/model.py
+++ b/src/google/appengine/ext/ndb/model.py
@@ -1913,7 +1913,10 @@ def _from_base_type(self, value):
       return pickle.loads(value)
     except UnicodeDecodeError:
       if int(os.environ.get('NDB_PY2_UNPICKLE_COMPAT', '0')):
-        return pickle.loads(value, encoding='bytes')
+        try:
+          return pickle.loads(value, encoding='bytes')
+        except:
+          return pickle.loads(value, encoding='latin1')
       raise