diff --git a/lib/wallet.py b/lib/wallet.py
index c3503467d..cba6b7985 100644
--- a/lib/wallet.py
+++ b/lib/wallet.py
@@ -1607,6 +1607,17 @@ class Wallet(object):
 
     def __new__(self, storage):
 
+        seed_version = storage.get('seed_version')
+        if not seed_version:
+            seed_version = OLD_SEED_VERSION if len(storage.get('master_public_key','')) == 128 else NEW_SEED_VERSION
+
+        if seed_version not in [OLD_SEED_VERSION, NEW_SEED_VERSION]:
+            msg = "This wallet seed is not supported anymore."
+            if seed_version in [5, 7, 8]:
+                msg += "\nTo open this wallet, try 'git checkout seed_v%d'"%seed_version
+            print msg
+            sys.exit(1)
+
         run_hook('add_wallet_types', wallet_types)
         wallet_type = storage.get('wallet_type')
         if wallet_type:
@@ -1617,17 +1628,6 @@ class Wallet(object):
             else:
                 raise BaseException('unknown wallet type', wallet_type)
         else:
-            seed_version = storage.get('seed_version')
-            if not seed_version:
-                seed_version = OLD_SEED_VERSION if len(storage.get('master_public_key','')) == 128 else NEW_SEED_VERSION
-
-            if seed_version not in [OLD_SEED_VERSION, NEW_SEED_VERSION]:
-                msg = "This wallet seed is not supported anymore."
-                if seed_version in [5, 7, 8]:
-                    msg += "\nTo open this wallet, try 'git checkout seed_v%d'"%seed_version
-                print msg
-                sys.exit(1)
-
             if seed_version == OLD_SEED_VERSION:
                 WalletClass = OldWallet
             else: