diff --git a/hkl/engine.py b/hkl/engine.py
index 39b35656..876871ea 100644
--- a/hkl/engine.py
+++ b/hkl/engine.py
@@ -286,8 +286,6 @@ def __init__(self, param, geometry, *args, **kwargs):
         self.param_name = param.name_get()
         # you may wonder why we stash geometry object rather than axis
         # this is because the axis params can only be updated from the geometry
-        if geometry is None:
-            raise ValueError("Error, must supply a geometry")
         self._geometry = geometry
 
     @property