diff --git a/neo/rawio/axonrawio.py b/neo/rawio/axonrawio.py
index 166446a90..ea8232bc4 100644
--- a/neo/rawio/axonrawio.py
+++ b/neo/rawio/axonrawio.py
@@ -673,7 +673,13 @@ def _parse_abf_v1(f, header_description):
     ss = header["lFileStartTime"] - hh * 3600 - mm * 60
     ms = int(np.mod(ss, 1) * 1e6)
     ss = int(ss)
-    header["rec_datetime"] = datetime.datetime(YY, MM, DD, hh, mm, ss, ms)
+    try:
+        header["rec_datetime"] = datetime.datetime(YY, MM, DD, hh, mm, ss, ms)
+    except (ValueError, OverflowError):
+        # Date/time header fields hold an out-of-range or "no date" sentinel
+        # (e.g. 0xFFFFFFFF). The acquisition date is non-essential annotation,
+        # so fall back to None rather than blocking the read of the signal.
+        header["rec_datetime"] = None
 
     return header
 
@@ -1025,7 +1031,13 @@ def _parse_abf_v2(f, header_description):
     ss = header["uFileStartTimeMS"] / 1000.0 - hh * 3600 - mm * 60
     ms = int(np.mod(ss, 1) * 1e6)
     ss = int(ss)
-    header["rec_datetime"] = datetime.datetime(YY, MM, DD, hh, mm, ss, ms)
+    try:
+        header["rec_datetime"] = datetime.datetime(YY, MM, DD, hh, mm, ss, ms)
+    except (ValueError, OverflowError):
+        # Date/time header fields hold an out-of-range or "no date" sentinel
+        # (e.g. 0xFFFFFFFF). The acquisition date is non-essential annotation,
+        # so fall back to None rather than blocking the read of the signal.
+        header["rec_datetime"] = None
 
     return header
 
diff --git a/neo/test/rawiotest/test_axonrawio.py b/neo/test/rawiotest/test_axonrawio.py
index a1cb7dd2b..75e603b79 100644
--- a/neo/test/rawiotest/test_axonrawio.py
+++ b/neo/test/rawiotest/test_axonrawio.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import unittest
 
-from neo.rawio.axonrawio import AxonRawIO
+from neo.rawio.axonrawio import AxonRawIO, parse_axon_soup
 
 from neo.test.rawiotest.common_rawio_test import BaseTestRawIO
 
@@ -28,6 +28,18 @@ def test_read_raw_protocol(self):
 
         reader.read_raw_protocol()
 
+    def test_invalid_date_falls_back_to_none(self):
+        # Some ABF files store an out-of-range / "no date" sentinel (e.g. 0xFFFFFFFF)
+        # in the acquisition date header fields. The date is non-essential annotation,
+        # so parsing must fall back to rec_datetime=None rather than raising and
+        # blocking access to the signal.
+        for fixture in [
+            "axon/intracellular_data/files_with_errors/invalid_date_abf1.abf",  # ABF v1
+            "axon/intracellular_data/files_with_errors/invalid_date_abf2.abf",  # ABF v2
+        ]:
+            header = parse_axon_soup(self.get_local_path(fixture))
+            self.assertIsNone(header["rec_datetime"])
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()