diff --git a/message/sequencer.go b/message/sequencer.go
index a1e0c873..81730e14 100644
--- a/message/sequencer.go
+++ b/message/sequencer.go
@@ -401,40 +401,21 @@ func (w *Sequencer) Step() error {
 		w.dequeuedClock = GetClock(uuid)
 
 		if w.dequeuedClock != 0 && w.dequeuedClock <= w.emit.minClock {
-			if w.replayIt != nil {
-				continue // These can happen during replays.
-			} else {
-				// We don't allow duplicates within the ring in the first place,
-				// with one exception: messages with zero-valued Clocks are not
-				// expected to be consistently ordered on clock.
-				// In QueueUncommitted we synthetically assigned a clock value.
-				// Log a bunch of diagnostics using separate
-				log.WithFields(log.Fields{
-					"uuid":          uuid,
-					"dequeuedClock": w.dequeuedClock,
-					"emit":          fmt.Sprintf("%+v", w.emit),
-					"partialsCount": len(w.partials),
-					"pendingCount":  len(w.pending),
-				}).Error("ring clock <= emit.minClock (will log diagnostics then panic)")
-				log.WithField("offsets", w.offsets).Error("sequencer offsets")
-				log.WithField("dequeued", w.Dequeued).Error("dequeued message")
-
-				for producer, partial := range w.partials {
-					log.WithFields(log.Fields{
-						"producer": producer,
-						"partial":  partial,
-					}).Error("partials")
-				}
-				var i = 0
-				for pending, _ := range w.pending {
-					log.WithFields(log.Fields{
-						"i":       i,
-						"pending": pending,
-					}).Error("pending")
-					i++
-				}
-				panic("ring clock <= emit.minClock")
-			}
+			// We don't allow duplicates within the ring with one exception:
+			// messages with zero-valued Clocks are not expected to be
+			// consistently ordered on clock (in QueueUncommitted we
+			// synthetically assigned a clock value).
+			//
+			// However:
+			// - Duplicated sequences CAN happen during replays.
+			// - They can ALSO happen if we dequeued during replay,
+			//   and then observe the sequence duplicated again in the ring.
+			//
+			// While ordinarily we would discard such duplicates during ring
+			// maintenance operations, if the duplication straddles a recovered
+			// checkpoint boundary then all bets are off because checkpoints
+			// track only the last ACK and not the partial minClock.
+			continue
 		} else if w.dequeuedClock > w.emit.maxClock {
 			continue // ACK'd clock tells us not to commit.
 		}
diff --git a/message/sequencer_test.go b/message/sequencer_test.go
index c15688e5..accde9fe 100644
--- a/message/sequencer_test.go
+++ b/message/sequencer_test.go
@@ -614,6 +614,51 @@ func TestSequencerProducerStatesRoundTripDuringDequeue(t *testing.T) {
 	expectDeque(t, seq2, a5, a6ACK)
 }
 
+func TestSequencerProducerStatesStraddleDuplicate(t *testing.T) {
+	var (
+		generate = newTestMsgGenerator()
+		seq1     = NewSequencer(nil, nil, 12)
+		A        = NewProducerID()
+		a1       = generate(A, 1, Flag_CONTINUE_TXN)
+		a2       = generate(A, 2, Flag_CONTINUE_TXN)
+		a3       = generate(A, 3, Flag_CONTINUE_TXN)
+		a1Dup    = generate(A, 1, Flag_CONTINUE_TXN)
+		a2Dup    = generate(A, 2, Flag_CONTINUE_TXN)
+		a3Dup    = generate(A, 3, Flag_CONTINUE_TXN)
+		a4ACK    = generate(A, 4, Flag_ACK_TXN)
+	)
+
+	require.Equal(t, []QueueOutcome{
+		QueueContinueBeginSpan,
+		QueueContinueExtendSpan,
+		QueueContinueExtendSpan,
+	}, queue(seq1, a1, a2, a3))
+	require.Nil(t, seq1.emit) // No messages to dequeue.
+
+	// Take a checkpoint and then restore it.
+	var offsets, states = seq1.Checkpoint(0)
+	var seq2 = NewSequencer(offsets, states, 12)
+
+	require.Equal(t, []QueueOutcome{
+		QueueContinueTxnClockLarger,
+		QueueContinueTxnClockLarger,
+		QueueContinueTxnClockLarger,
+		QueueAckCommitRing,
+	}, queue(seq1, a1Dup, a2Dup, a3Dup, a4ACK))
+
+	require.Equal(t, []QueueOutcome{
+		QueueContinueExtendSpan,
+		QueueContinueExtendSpan,
+		QueueContinueExtendSpan,
+		QueueAckCommitReplay,
+	}, queue(seq2, a1Dup, a2Dup, a3Dup, a4ACK))
+
+	expectReplay(t, seq2, a1.Begin, a1Dup.Begin, a1, a2, a3)
+
+	expectDeque(t, seq1, a1, a2, a3, a4ACK)
+	expectDeque(t, seq2, a1, a2, a3, a4ACK)
+}
+
 func TestSequencerProducerPruning(t *testing.T) {
 	var (
 		generate = newTestMsgGenerator()