diff --git a/pandas/_libs/period.pyx b/pandas/_libs/period.pyx
index 72523a19b9595..5c5c10684551d 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/period.pyx
+++ b/pandas/_libs/period.pyx
@@ -693,7 +693,12 @@ cdef class _Period(object):
 
     def __richcmp__(self, other, op):
         if is_period_object(other):
-            if other.freq != self.freq:
+            try:
+                if other.freq != self.freq:
+                    msg = _DIFFERENT_FREQ.format(self.freqstr, other.freqstr)
+                    raise IncompatibleFrequency(msg)
+            except SystemError:
+                # See GH#17112 in python3
                 msg = _DIFFERENT_FREQ.format(self.freqstr, other.freqstr)
                 raise IncompatibleFrequency(msg)
             return PyObject_RichCompareBool(self.ordinal, other.ordinal, op)
diff --git a/pandas/tests/scalar/test_period.py b/pandas/tests/scalar/test_period.py
index 28d85c52604d9..2824d2aa266ff 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/scalar/test_period.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/scalar/test_period.py
@@ -1418,3 +1418,12 @@ def test_period_immutable():
     freq = per.freq
     with pytest.raises(AttributeError):
         per.freq = 2 * freq
+
+
+def test_comparison_catches_system_error():
+    # see GH#17112 in py3 this comparison could raise SystemError instead
+    # of IncompatibleFrequency
+    per1 = pd.Period('2014Q1')
+    per2 = pd.Period('2015', freq='A')
+    with pytest.raises(period.IncompatibleFrequency):
+        per1 < per2