diff --git a/petl/compat.py b/petl/compat.py
index 71c29018..9505ebb0 100644
--- a/petl/compat.py
+++ b/petl/compat.py
@@ -15,9 +15,10 @@
 if PY2:
     from itertools import ifilter, ifilterfalse, imap, izip, izip_longest
     from string import maketrans
+    from decimal import Decimal
     string_types = basestring,
     integer_types = int, long
-    numeric_types = bool, int, long, float
+    numeric_types = bool, int, long, float, Decimal
     text_type = unicode
     binary_type = str
     from urllib2 import urlopen
@@ -40,13 +41,14 @@
     imap = map
     izip = zip
     xrange = range
+    from decimal import Decimal
     from itertools import filterfalse as ifilterfalse
     from itertools import zip_longest as izip_longest
     from functools import reduce
     maketrans = str.maketrans
     string_types = str,
     integer_types = int,
-    numeric_types = bool, int, float
+    numeric_types = bool, int, float, Decimal
     class_types = type,
     text_type = str
     binary_type = bytes
diff --git a/petl/test/test_comparison.py b/petl/test/test_comparison.py
index 94bf3637..cbf041d7 100644
--- a/petl/test/test_comparison.py
+++ b/petl/test/test_comparison.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 
 from datetime import datetime
+from decimal import Decimal
 
 
 from petl.test.helpers import eq_
@@ -29,9 +30,9 @@ def test_comparable():
     eq_(e, a)
 
     # mixed numeric
-    d = [3., 1, 2.5]
+    d = [3., 1, 2.5, Decimal('1.5')]
     a = sorted(d, key=Comparable)
-    e = [1, 2.5, 3.]
+    e = [1, Decimal('1.5'), 2.5, 3.]
     eq_(e, a)
 
     # mixed numeric and bool