diff --git a/schema/src/main/java/org/exolab/castor/xml/schema/util/DatatypeHandler.java b/schema/src/main/java/org/exolab/castor/xml/schema/util/DatatypeHandler.java
index bd2a22058..cd8c131d2 100644
--- a/schema/src/main/java/org/exolab/castor/xml/schema/util/DatatypeHandler.java
+++ b/schema/src/main/java/org/exolab/castor/xml/schema/util/DatatypeHandler.java
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ public static String guessType(String value) {
       Date.parseDate(value);
       return DATE_TYPE;
     } catch (ParseException px) {
+    } catch (IllegalArgumentException ex) {
     }
 
     // -- check for time
diff --git a/schema/src/main/java/org/exolab/castor/xml/schema/util/XMLInstance2SchemaHandler.java b/schema/src/main/java/org/exolab/castor/xml/schema/util/XMLInstance2SchemaHandler.java
index 7b3ae9318..d75027d82 100644
--- a/schema/src/main/java/org/exolab/castor/xml/schema/util/XMLInstance2SchemaHandler.java
+++ b/schema/src/main/java/org/exolab/castor/xml/schema/util/XMLInstance2SchemaHandler.java
@@ -444,6 +444,7 @@ private void merge(ElementDecl e1, ElementDecl e2) throws SchemaException {
         return; // -- nothing to merge
       if (e2Type.isSimpleType()) {
         e1.setType(e2Type);
+        e1Type = e2Type;
       } else {
         ComplexType cType = new ComplexType(_schema);
         Group group = new Group();
@@ -455,6 +456,7 @@ private void merge(ElementDecl e1, ElementDecl e2) throws SchemaException {
     } else if (e2Type == null) {
       if (e1Type.isSimpleType()) {
         e2.setType(e1Type);
+        e2Type = e1Type;
       } else {
         ComplexType cType = new ComplexType(_schema);
         Group group = new Group();