diff --git a/src/builtins/Proxy.pir b/src/builtins/Proxy.pir
index 4de0c6f74c3..a6835bb1f85 100644
--- a/src/builtins/Proxy.pir
+++ b/src/builtins/Proxy.pir
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ container.
     source = descalarref source
 
     # convert self into a scalar
-    $P0 = new ['ObjectRef'], source
+    $P0 = new ['Perl6Scalar'], source
     copy self, $P0
     $P0 = get_hll_global ['Bool'], 'True'
     setprop self, 'scalar', $P0