diff --git a/ethcore/light/src/client/header_chain.rs b/ethcore/light/src/client/header_chain.rs
index 1f97e281b..123eaf653 100644
--- a/ethcore/light/src/client/header_chain.rs
+++ b/ethcore/light/src/client/header_chain.rs
@@ -411,8 +411,8 @@ impl HeaderChain {
 			self.live_epoch_proofs.write().insert(hash, transition);
 		}
 
-		let raw = ::rlp::encode(&header);
-		transaction.put(self.col, &hash[..], &*raw);
+		let raw = header.encoded().into_inner();
+		transaction.put_vec(self.col, &hash[..], raw);
 
 		let (best_num, is_new_best) = {
 			let cur_best = self.best_block.read();
diff --git a/ethcore/src/engines/authority_round/mod.rs b/ethcore/src/engines/authority_round/mod.rs
index 33979e01c..44f3d801c 100644
--- a/ethcore/src/engines/authority_round/mod.rs
+++ b/ethcore/src/engines/authority_round/mod.rs
@@ -745,13 +745,18 @@ impl Engine for AuthorityRound {
 		{
 			if let Ok(finalized) = epoch_manager.finality_checker.push_hash(chain_head.hash(), *chain_head.author()) {
 				let mut finalized = finalized.into_iter();
-				while let Some(hash) = finalized.next() {
-					if let Some(pending) = transition_store(hash) {
-						let finality_proof = ::std::iter::once(hash)
+				while let Some(finalized_hash) = finalized.next() {
+					if let Some(pending) = transition_store(finalized_hash) {
+						let finality_proof = ::std::iter::once(finalized_hash)
 							.chain(finalized)
 							.chain(epoch_manager.finality_checker.unfinalized_hashes())
-							.map(|hash| chain(hash)
-								.expect("these headers fetched before when constructing finality checker; qed"))
+							.map(|h| if h == chain_head.hash() {
+								// chain closure only stores ancestry, but the chain head is also
+								// unfinalized.
+								chain_head.clone()
+							} else {
+								chain(h).expect("these headers fetched before when constructing finality checker; qed")
+							})
 							.collect::<Vec<Header>>();
 
 						// this gives us the block number for `hash`, assuming it's ancestry.