diff --git a/rpc/types.go b/rpc/types.go
index f88c37c59d..34a1451dea 100644
--- a/rpc/types.go
+++ b/rpc/types.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"math"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common"
@@ -220,7 +221,7 @@ func (bnh *BlockNumberOrHash) Number() (BlockNumber, bool) {
 
 func (bnh *BlockNumberOrHash) String() string {
 	if bnh.BlockNumber != nil {
-		return bnh.BlockNumber.String()
+		return strconv.Itoa(int(*bnh.BlockNumber))
 	}
 	if bnh.BlockHash != nil {
 		return bnh.BlockHash.String()
diff --git a/rpc/types_test.go b/rpc/types_test.go
index 617f441d91..f110dee7c6 100644
--- a/rpc/types_test.go
+++ b/rpc/types_test.go
@@ -153,24 +153,3 @@ 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)
-		}
-	}
-}