diff --git a/src/app/browse-by/browse-by-date-page/browse-by-date-page.component.ts b/src/app/browse-by/browse-by-date-page/browse-by-date-page.component.ts
index 4b445dedb7..e11aa2f3fd 100644
--- a/src/app/browse-by/browse-by-date-page/browse-by-date-page.component.ts
+++ b/src/app/browse-by/browse-by-date-page/browse-by-date-page.component.ts
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ export class BrowseByDatePageComponent extends BrowseByMetadataPageComponent {
         let lowerLimit = environment.browseBy.defaultLowerLimit;
         if (hasValue(firstItemRD.payload)) {
           const date = firstItemRD.payload.firstMetadataValue(metadataKeys);
-          if (hasValue(date)) {
+          if (isNotEmpty(new Date(date))) {
             const dateObj = new Date(date);
             // TODO: it appears that getFullYear (based on local time) is sometimes unreliable. Switching to UTC.
             lowerLimit = isNaN(dateObj.getUTCFullYear()) ? lowerLimit : dateObj.getUTCFullYear();