diff --git a/playground/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/indels/CountedObjectComparatorAdapter.java b/playground/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/indels/CountedObjectComparatorAdapter.java
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..75e4f2678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playground/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/indels/CountedObjectComparatorAdapter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+package org.broadinstitute.sting.indels;
+
+/** Support class for counted objects. This comparator is an adapter: it is initialized with an arbitrary
+ * comparator for objects of type T and can be used to directly compare counted objects of type CountedObject<T>
+ * (the underlying Comparator<T> will be used to compare the "object" part of the counted objects, the counter values
+ * will be ignored). This comparator also provides additional, non-standard methods that allow direct
+ * comparison between a CountedObject<T> and "raw" object of type T (the same underlying Comparator<T> will be used,
+ * and the value of the counter in the counted object wil be ignored).
+  * @param <T>
+ */
+public class CountedObjectComparatorAdapter<T>  implements java.util.Comparator<CountedObject<T>> {
+	
+	private java.util.Comparator<T> mComp;
+
+    /** Initializes comparator adapter with a comparator for objects of trype T */
+	public CountedObjectComparatorAdapter(java.util.Comparator<T> adaptee) {
+		mComp = adaptee;
+	}
+
+    @Override
+	public int compare(CountedObject<T> o1, CountedObject<T> o2) {
+		return mComp.compare(o1.getObject(),o2.getObject());
+	}
+	
+	public int compare(T o1, CountedObject<T> o2) {
+		return mComp.compare(o1,o2.getObject());
+	}
+
+	public int compare(CountedObject<T> o1, T o2) {
+		return mComp.compare(o1.getObject(),o2);
+	}
+	
+	@Override
+	public boolean equals(Object o) {
+		if ( o instanceof CountedObjectComparatorAdapter) {
+			if ( ((CountedObjectComparatorAdapter) o).mComp.getClass() == mComp.getClass() ) return true;
+		}
+		return false;
+	}
+
+}