diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/ObjectUtils.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/ObjectUtils.java
index fdfc468f9..e2b2cf08c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/ObjectUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/ObjectUtils.java
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@
 package org.apache.commons.lang3;
 
 import java.io.Serializable;
+import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.exception.CloneFailedException;
 
 /**
  * <p>Operations on <code>Object</code>.</p>
@@ -309,6 +313,48 @@ public static <T extends Comparable<? super T>> T max(T c1, T c2) {
             return c1 != null ? c1 : c2;
         }
     }
+    
+    /**
+     * Clone an object.
+     * 
+     * @param <T> the type of the object
+     * @param o the object to clone
+     * @return the clone if the object implements {@link Cloneable} otherwise <code>null</code>
+     * @throws CloneFailedException if the object is cloneable and the clone operation fails
+     * @since 3.0
+     */
+    public static <T> T clone(final T o) {
+        if (o instanceof Cloneable) {
+            try {
+                final Method clone = o.getClass().getMethod("clone", (Class[])null);
+                @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+                final T result = (T)clone.invoke(o, (Object[])null);
+                return result;
+            } catch (final NoSuchMethodException e) {
+                throw new CloneFailedException("Cloneable type has no clone method", e);
+            } catch (final IllegalAccessException e) {
+                throw new CloneFailedException("Cannot clone Cloneable type", e);
+            } catch (final InvocationTargetException e) {
+                throw new CloneFailedException("Exception cloning Cloneable type", e.getCause());
+            }
+        }
+
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Clone an object if possible.
+     * 
+     * @param <T> the type of the object
+     * @param o the object to clone
+     * @return the clone if the object implements {@link Cloneable} otherwise the object itself
+     * @throws CloneFailedException if the object is cloneable and the clone operation fails
+     * @since 3.0
+     */
+    public static <T> T cloneIfPossible(final T o) {
+        final T clone = clone(o);
+        return clone == null ? o : clone;
+    }
 
     // Null
     //-----------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/exception/CloneFailedException.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/exception/CloneFailedException.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7bef6ddf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/exception/CloneFailedException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.commons.lang3.exception;
+
+/**
+ * Exception thrown when a clone cannot be created. In contrast to
+ * {@link CloneNotSupportedException} this is a {@link RuntimeException}.
+ * 
+ * @author Apache Software Foundation
+ * @since 3.0
+ */
+public class CloneFailedException extends RuntimeException {
+    // ~ Static fields/initializers ---------------------------------------------
+
+    private static final long serialVersionUID = 20091223L;
+
+    // ~ Constructors -----------------------------------------------------------
+
+    /**
+     * Constructs a CloneFailedException.
+     * 
+     * @param message description of the exception
+     * @since upcoming
+     */
+    public CloneFailedException(final String message) {
+        super(message);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Constructs a CloneFailedException.
+     * 
+     * @param cause cause of the exception
+     * @since upcoming
+     */
+    public CloneFailedException(final Throwable cause) {
+        super(cause);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Constructs a CloneFailedException.
+     * 
+     * @param message description of the exception
+     * @param cause cause of the exception
+     * @since upcoming
+     */
+    public CloneFailedException(final String message, final Throwable cause) {
+        super(message, cause);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/ObjectUtilsTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/ObjectUtilsTest.java
index 448e10d6b..abbf0dc62 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/ObjectUtilsTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/ObjectUtilsTest.java
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@
 import java.util.Calendar;
 import java.util.Date;
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.exception.CloneFailedException;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.mutable.MutableObject;
+
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 
 /**
@@ -212,4 +215,89 @@ public void testMin() {
         assertNull( ObjectUtils.min((String)null, (String)null) );
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Tests {@link ObjectUtils#clone(Object)} with a cloneable object.
+     */
+    public void testCloneOfCloneable() {
+        final CloneableString string = new CloneableString("apache");
+        final CloneableString stringClone = ObjectUtils.clone(string);
+        assertEquals("apache", stringClone.getValue());
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Tests {@link ObjectUtils#clone(Object)} with a not cloneable object.
+     */
+    public void testCloneOfNotCloneable() {
+        final String string = new String("apache");
+        assertNull(ObjectUtils.clone(string));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Tests {@link ObjectUtils#clone(Object)} with an uncloneable object.
+     */
+    public void testCloneOfUncloneable() {
+        final UncloneableString string = new UncloneableString("apache");
+        try {
+            ObjectUtils.clone(string);
+            fail("Thrown " + CloneFailedException.class.getName() + " expected");
+        } catch (final CloneFailedException e) {
+            assertEquals(NoSuchMethodException.class, e.getCause().getClass());
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Tests {@link ObjectUtils#cloneIfPossible(Object)} with a cloneable object.
+     */
+    public void testPossibleCloneOfCloneable() {
+        final CloneableString string = new CloneableString("apache");
+        final CloneableString stringClone = ObjectUtils.cloneIfPossible(string);
+        assertEquals("apache", stringClone.getValue());
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Tests {@link ObjectUtils#cloneIfPossible(Object)} with a not cloneable object.
+     */
+    public void testPossibleCloneOfNotCloneable() {
+        final String string = new String("apache");
+        assertSame(string, ObjectUtils.cloneIfPossible(string));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Tests {@link ObjectUtils#cloneIfPossible(Object)} with an uncloneable object.
+     */
+    public void testPossibleCloneOfUncloneable() {
+        final UncloneableString string = new UncloneableString("apache");
+        try {
+            ObjectUtils.cloneIfPossible(string);
+            fail("Thrown " + CloneFailedException.class.getName() + " expected");
+        } catch (final CloneFailedException e) {
+            assertEquals(NoSuchMethodException.class, e.getCause().getClass());
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * String that is cloneable.
+     */
+    static final class CloneableString extends MutableObject<String> implements Cloneable {
+        private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
+        CloneableString(final String s) {
+            super(s);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public CloneableString clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException {
+            return (CloneableString)super.clone();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * String that is not cloneable.
+     */
+    static final class UncloneableString extends MutableObject<String> implements Cloneable {
+        private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
+        UncloneableString(final String s) {
+            super(s);
+        }
+    }
+
 }