diff --git a/pymongo/binary.py b/pymongo/binary.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fcf146df4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pymongo/binary.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# Copyright 2009 10gen, Inc.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+"""Representation of binary data to be stored in or retrieved from Mongo.
+
+This is necessary because we want to store normal strings as the Mongo string
+type. We need to wrap binary so we can tell the difference between what should
+be considered binary and what should be considered a string.
+"""
+
+def is_binary(data):
+    """Check if the given data is binary or not.
+    """
+    return isinstance(data, Binary)
+
+class Binary(str):
+    """Binary data stored in or retrieved from Mongo.
+    """
+    pass
diff --git a/test/test_binary.py b/test/test_binary.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a858d71c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_binary.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# Copyright 2009 10gen, Inc.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+"""Tests for the Binary wrapper."""
+
+import unittest
+
+from pymongo import binary
+
+class TestBinary(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        pass
+
+    def test_binary(self):
+        a_string = "hello world"
+        a_binary = binary.Binary("hello world")
+        self.assertTrue(a_binary.startswith("hello"))
+        self.assertTrue(a_binary.endswith("world"))
+        self.assertTrue(binary.is_binary(a_binary))
+        self.assertFalse(binary.is_binary(a_string))
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()