hm -- worked for me fine
```
$> python2.7 /tmp/1.py
("array(['1', 2, '3'], dtype=object)", '1.7.1', True)

$> python3.3 /tmp/1.py
array(['1', 2, '3'], dtype=object) 1.7.1 True

$> cat /tmp/1.py      
import numpy as np

x = ['1', 2, '3']
res = np.empty(len(x), dtype=object)
res[:] = x
print(repr(res), np.__version__, np.all(res == x))
```