diff --git a/common/bigunsignedint.hh b/common/bigunsignedint.hh
index 6026bde8c862a2b4df9dbf7e637646d739d493b9..29e8f50fbe425dacb91de9681b7f47171c506a56 100644
--- a/common/bigunsignedint.hh
+++ b/common/bigunsignedint.hh
@@ -99,6 +99,10 @@ namespace Dune
     //! not equal
     bool operator!= (const bigunsignedint<k>& x) const;
 
+
+    //! export to other types
+    operator unsigned int () const;
+
     friend class bigunsignedint<k/2>;
   private:
     unsigned short digit[n];
@@ -119,6 +123,13 @@ namespace Dune
     for (unsigned int i=2; i<n; i++) digit[i]=0;
   }
 
+  // export
+  template<int k>
+  inline bigunsignedint<k>::operator unsigned int () const
+  {
+    return (digit[1]<<bits)+digit[0];
+  }
+
   // print
   template<int k>
   inline void bigunsignedint<k>::print (std::ostream& s) const