diff --git a/evennia/commands/default/building.py b/evennia/commands/default/building.py
index 61a46bde30..9170f3c9ff 100644
--- a/evennia/commands/default/building.py
+++ b/evennia/commands/default/building.py
@@ -2718,7 +2718,7 @@ class CmdSpawn(COMMAND_DEFAULT_CLASS):
             self.caller.msg("The prototype must be a prototype key or a Python dictionary.")
             return
 
-        if "noloc" in self.switches and not "location" not in prototype:
+        if "noloc" not in self.switches and "location" not in prototype:
             prototype["location"] = self.caller.location
 
         for obj in spawn(prototype):
diff --git a/evennia/utils/spawner.py b/evennia/utils/spawner.py
index 423fc8225b..4a8ac946c8 100644
--- a/evennia/utils/spawner.py
+++ b/evennia/utils/spawner.py
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ _CREATE_OBJECT_KWARGS = ("key", "location", "home", "destination")
 
 
 def _handle_dbref(inp):
-    dbid_to_obj(inp, ObjectDB)
+    return dbid_to_obj(inp, ObjectDB)
 
 
 def _validate_prototype(key, prototype, protparents, visited):