diff --git a/libguile/foreign.c b/libguile/foreign.c
index dc9367614..dd77a823c 100644
--- a/libguile/foreign.c
+++ b/libguile/foreign.c
@@ -162,6 +162,19 @@ SCM_DEFINE (scm_foreign_address, "foreign-address", 1, 0, 0,
 }
 #undef FUNC_NAME
 
+SCM_DEFINE (scm_dereference_pointer, "dereference-pointer", 1, 0, 0,
+	    (SCM foreign),
+	    "Return the a foreign object representing the pointer "
+	    "pointed to by @var{foreign}.")
+#define FUNC_NAME s_scm_dereference_pointer
+{
+  SCM_VALIDATE_FOREIGN (1, foreign);
+
+  return scm_take_foreign_pointer (* (void **) SCM_FOREIGN_POINTER (foreign),
+				   NULL);
+}
+#undef FUNC_NAME
+
 SCM_DEFINE (scm_foreign_to_bytevector, "foreign->bytevector", 2, 2, 0,
 	    (SCM foreign, SCM len, SCM offset, SCM uvec_type),
 	    "Return a bytevector aliasing the memory pointed to by\n"
diff --git a/libguile/foreign.h b/libguile/foreign.h
index 4712d761a..af7f1c90d 100644
--- a/libguile/foreign.h
+++ b/libguile/foreign.h
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ SCM_API SCM scm_foreign_set_finalizer_x (SCM foreign, SCM finalizer);
 SCM_API SCM scm_bytevector_to_foreign (SCM bv, SCM offset, SCM len);
 
 SCM_INTERNAL SCM scm_make_pointer (SCM address, SCM finalizer);
+SCM_INTERNAL SCM scm_dereference_pointer (SCM pointer);
 SCM_INTERNAL void scm_i_foreign_print (SCM foreign, SCM port,
                                        scm_print_state *pstate);
 
diff --git a/module/system/foreign.scm b/module/system/foreign.scm
index 9966c640b..6aa2fe357 100644
--- a/module/system/foreign.scm
+++ b/module/system/foreign.scm
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
             null-pointer?
             make-pointer
             foreign-address
+            dereference-pointer
 
             foreign->bytevector bytevector->foreign
             foreign-set-finalizer!
diff --git a/test-suite/tests/foreign.test b/test-suite/tests/foreign.test
index 7ff14ccff..7da4deb31 100644
--- a/test-suite/tests/foreign.test
+++ b/test-suite/tests/foreign.test
@@ -63,6 +63,16 @@
       (= (foreign-address
           (make-pointer (bytevector-uint-ref bv 0 (native-endianness)
                                              (sizeof '*))))
+         (fold-right (lambda (byte address)
+                       (+ byte (* 256 address)))
+                     0
+                     bytes))))
+
+  (pass-if "dereference-pointer"
+    (let* ((bytes (iota (sizeof '*)))
+           (bv    (u8-list->bytevector bytes)))
+      (= (foreign-address
+          (dereference-pointer (bytevector->foreign bv)))
          (fold-right (lambda (byte address)
                        (+ byte (* 256 address)))
                      0