So, it was the literal chr(5) getting munged?

Hmm, that's odd. As written, it will convert the Unicode to ANSI using the current code page before calling the OS primitive. Ah, it probably passes the 5 unchanged (thus breaking symetry: a 5 is converted to the club character.)

Just to be more kosher, I'd use Wide system calls, or use a byte-oriented string.

How to read it: Load it in and use the OLE interface to un-persist it. I think you need to read it as one binary lump.

Here's a suggestion when you get past the proof stages: have a tied hash to get/set Summary Info or other supported property sets.

—John