diff --git a/python/mrc/_pymrc/include/pymrc/utils.hpp b/python/mrc/_pymrc/include/pymrc/utils.hpp
index f80838c3d..fbfe2e02f 100644
--- a/python/mrc/_pymrc/include/pymrc/utils.hpp
+++ b/python/mrc/_pymrc/include/pymrc/utils.hpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2021-2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+ * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2021-2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
  * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -54,6 +54,13 @@ void from_import_as(pybind11::module_& dest, const std::string& from, const std:
  */
 const std::type_info* cpptype_info_from_object(pybind11::object& obj);
 
+/**
+ * @brief Given a pybind11 object, return the Python type name essentially the same as `str(type(obj))`
+ * @param obj : pybind11 object
+ * @return std::string.
+ */
+std::string get_py_type_name(const pybind11::object& obj);
+
 void show_deprecation_warning(const std::string& deprecation_message, ssize_t stack_level = 1);
 
 #pragma GCC visibility pop
diff --git a/python/mrc/_pymrc/src/utils.cpp b/python/mrc/_pymrc/src/utils.cpp
index ba6a70584..02b94a269 100644
--- a/python/mrc/_pymrc/src/utils.cpp
+++ b/python/mrc/_pymrc/src/utils.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2021-2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+ * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2021-2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
  * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@
 
 #include "pymrc/utils.hpp"
 
+#include "pymrc/utilities/acquire_gil.hpp"
+
+#include <glog/logging.h>
 #include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
 #include <pybind11/cast.h>
 #include <pybind11/detail/internals.h>
@@ -25,6 +28,7 @@
 #include <pyerrors.h>
 #include <warnings.h>
 
+#include <sstream>
 #include <string>
 #include <utility>
 
@@ -72,6 +76,18 @@ const std::type_info* cpptype_info_from_object(py::object& obj)
     return nullptr;
 }
 
+std::string get_py_type_name(const pybind11::object& obj)
+{
+    if (!obj)
+    {
+        // calling py::type::of on a null object will trigger an abort
+        return "";
+    }
+
+    const auto py_type = py::type::of(obj);
+    return py_type.attr("__name__").cast<std::string>();
+}
+
 py::object cast_from_json(const json& source)
 {
     if (source.is_null())
@@ -123,7 +139,7 @@ py::object cast_from_json(const json& source)
     // throw std::runtime_error("Unsupported conversion type.");
 }
 
-json cast_from_pyobject(const py::object& source)
+json cast_from_pyobject_impl(const py::object& source, const std::string& parent_path = "")
 {
     // Dont return via initializer list with JSON. It performs type deduction and gives different results
     // NOLINTBEGIN(modernize-return-braced-init-list)
@@ -137,7 +153,9 @@ json cast_from_pyobject(const py::object& source)
         auto json_obj      = json::object();
         for (const auto& p : py_dict)
         {
-            json_obj[py::cast<std::string>(p.first)] = cast_from_pyobject(p.second.cast<py::object>());
+            std::string key{p.first.cast<std::string>()};
+            std::string path{parent_path + "/" + key};
+            json_obj[key] = cast_from_pyobject_impl(p.second.cast<py::object>(), path);
         }
 
         return json_obj;
@@ -148,7 +166,7 @@ json cast_from_pyobject(const py::object& source)
         auto json_arr      = json::array();
         for (const auto& p : py_list)
         {
-            json_arr.push_back(cast_from_pyobject(p.cast<py::object>()));
+            json_arr.push_back(cast_from_pyobject_impl(p.cast<py::object>(), parent_path));
         }
 
         return json_arr;
@@ -170,11 +188,31 @@ json cast_from_pyobject(const py::object& source)
         return json(py::cast<std::string>(source));
     }
 
-    // else unsupported return null
-    return json();
+    // else unsupported return throw a type error
+    {
+        AcquireGIL gil;
+        std::ostringstream error_message;
+        std::string path{parent_path};
+        if (path.empty())
+        {
+            path = "/";
+        }
+
+        error_message << "Object (" << py::str(source).cast<std::string>() << ") of type: " << get_py_type_name(source)
+                      << " at path: " << path << " is not JSON serializable";
+
+        DVLOG(5) << error_message.str();
+        throw py::type_error(error_message.str());
+    }
+
     // NOLINTEND(modernize-return-braced-init-list)
 }
 
+json cast_from_pyobject(const py::object& source)
+{
+    return cast_from_pyobject_impl(source);
+}
+
 void show_deprecation_warning(const std::string& deprecation_message, ssize_t stack_level)
 {
     PyErr_WarnEx(PyExc_DeprecationWarning, deprecation_message.c_str(), stack_level);
diff --git a/python/mrc/_pymrc/tests/test_utils.cpp b/python/mrc/_pymrc/tests/test_utils.cpp
index 713bdc5f4..e518bbd87 100644
--- a/python/mrc/_pymrc/tests/test_utils.cpp
+++ b/python/mrc/_pymrc/tests/test_utils.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2021-2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+ * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2021-2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
  * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 namespace py    = pybind11;
 namespace pymrc = mrc::pymrc;
 using namespace std::string_literals;
+using namespace pybind11::literals;  // to bring in the `_a` literal
 
 // Create values too big to fit in int & float types to ensure we can pass
 // long & double types to both nlohmann/json and python
@@ -143,6 +144,32 @@ TEST_F(TestUtils, CastFromPyObject)
     }
 }
 
+TEST_F(TestUtils, CastFromPyObjectSerializeErrors)
+{
+    // Test to verify that cast_from_pyobject throws a python TypeError when encountering something that is not json
+    // serializable issue #450
+
+    // decimal.Decimal is not serializable
+    py::object Decimal = py::module_::import("decimal").attr("Decimal");
+    py::object o       = Decimal("1.0");
+    EXPECT_THROW(pymrc::cast_from_pyobject(o), py::type_error);
+
+    // Test with object in a nested dict
+    py::dict d("a"_a = py::dict("b"_a = py::dict("c"_a = py::dict("d"_a = o))), "other"_a = 2);
+    EXPECT_THROW(pymrc::cast_from_pyobject(d), py::type_error);
+}
+
+TEST_F(TestUtils, GetTypeName)
+{
+    // invalid objects should return an empty string
+    EXPECT_EQ(pymrc::get_py_type_name(py::object()), "");
+    EXPECT_EQ(pymrc::get_py_type_name(py::none()), "NoneType");
+
+    py::object Decimal = py::module_::import("decimal").attr("Decimal");
+    py::object o       = Decimal("1.0");
+    EXPECT_EQ(pymrc::get_py_type_name(o), "Decimal");
+}
+
 TEST_F(TestUtils, PyObjectWrapper)
 {
     py::list test_list;