diff --git a/implementations/rust/preserves/src/value/repr.rs b/implementations/rust/preserves/src/value/repr.rs
index 305569e..f703436 100644
--- a/implementations/rust/preserves/src/value/repr.rs
+++ b/implementations/rust/preserves/src/value/repr.rs
@@ -1389,7 +1389,10 @@ impl<D: Embeddable> NestedValue for ArcValue<D> {
 
     #[inline(always)]
     fn value_owned(self) -> Value<Self> {
-        Arc::try_unwrap(self.0).unwrap_or_else(|_| panic!("value_owned on ArcValue with refcount greater than one")).1
+        match Arc::try_unwrap(self.0) {
+            Ok(AnnotatedValue(_anns, v)) => v,
+            Err(r) => r.1.clone(),
+        }
     }
 }