diff --git a/lib/mpl_toolkits/basemap/__init__.py b/lib/mpl_toolkits/basemap/__init__.py
index 326940405..c6aac058f 100644
--- a/lib/mpl_toolkits/basemap/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/mpl_toolkits/basemap/__init__.py
@@ -3212,7 +3212,8 @@ def _save_use_hold(self, ax, kwargs):
         h = kwargs.pop('hold', None)
         if hasattr(ax, '_hold'):
             self._tmp_hold = ax._hold
-            ax._hold = h
+            if h is not None:
+                ax._hold = h
 
     def _restore_hold(self, ax):
         if hasattr(ax, '_hold'):