diff --git a/modules/mol/base/pymod/export_surface.cc b/modules/mol/base/pymod/export_surface.cc
index fe0d98fa15f937ef578780aeaf6f9ddf9bf4725d..04d089dfc41442f1a529816655f016a553af33c9 100644
--- a/modules/mol/base/pymod/export_surface.cc
+++ b/modules/mol/base/pymod/export_surface.cc
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ void export_Surface()
     .def("GetVertex", &SurfaceHandle::GetVertex)    
     .def("FindWithin", &SurfaceHandle::FindWithin)    
     .def("Invert",&SurfaceHandle::Invert)
+    .def("IsValid",&SurfaceHandle::IsValid)
   ;
 
   def("CreateSurface",create1);
diff --git a/modules/mol/base/src/surface_handle.hh b/modules/mol/base/src/surface_handle.hh
index bfc48f5e0780db7ba3b04ec0a120346a3d9cb952..e57b0095a2e869cdf9d3b1eb27839d9df99b6bab 100644
--- a/modules/mol/base/src/surface_handle.hh
+++ b/modules/mol/base/src/surface_handle.hh
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ public:
   // flip normals
   void Invert();
 
+  bool IsValid() const {return impl_;}
+
 private:
   impl::SurfaceImplP impl_;
 };