diff --git a/brukerapi/dataset.py b/brukerapi/dataset.py
index fe6c67a..0d87a37 100644
--- a/brukerapi/dataset.py
+++ b/brukerapi/dataset.py
@@ -261,6 +261,7 @@ def __init__(self, path, **state):
         if self.subtype:
             self.subtype = self.subtype[1:]  # remove the dot from the suffix
         self._properties = []
+        self._declared_properties = set()
 
         if self.type not in DEFAULT_STATES:
             raise UnsupportedDatasetType(self.type)
@@ -531,12 +532,40 @@ def unload_properties(self):
             if hasattr(self, property):
                 delattr(self, property)
         self._properties = []
+        self._declared_properties = set()
         self._state["load_properties"] = False
 
     def reload_properties(self):
         self.unload_properties()
         self.load_properties()
 
+    def get(self, name, default=None):
+        """Value of property `name`, or `default` where it does not resolve.
+
+        Which properties a dataset carries is ParaVision-version dependent: a
+        recipe whose conditions do not match, or whose parameters the files do
+        not contain, leaves its property unset. Attribute access reports that as
+        an :class:`AttributeError`, which a caller can only handle by wrapping
+        every read in ``try``/``except`` -- and that swallows misspellings and
+        genuine errors from a recipe along with it.
+
+        A name no configuration declares still raises, so a typo does not
+        quietly become `default`::
+
+            dataset.get("TE")           # 4.0, or None where there is no echo time
+            dataset.get("TE", "n/a")    # 4.0, or "n/a"
+            dataset.get("TEE")          # AttributeError
+
+        Parameters are a separate layer, read with ``dataset[key]`` or
+        ``dataset.parameters``.
+        """
+        try:
+            return getattr(self, name)
+        except AttributeError:
+            if name in self._declared_properties:
+                return default
+            raise
+
     def add_property_file(self, path):
         with open(path) as f:
             for property in json.load(f).items():
@@ -553,6 +582,10 @@ def _add_property(self, property):
 
         :param property: tuple containing the name of the property and a list of possible commands to create it
         """
+        # Declared whether or not a recipe resolves, so that `get` can tell an
+        # unresolved property from a name that was never a property at all.
+        self._declared_properties.add(property[0])
+
         if property[0] == "scheme_id" and self._state.get("scheme_id") is not None:
             scheme_id = self._state["scheme_id"]
             if scheme_id not in {"CART_2D", "CART_3D", "FIELD_MAP", "RADIAL", "EPI", "dEPI", "SPECTROSCOPY", "CSI", "SPIRAL", "ZTE"}:
diff --git a/docs/source/compatibility.rst b/docs/source/compatibility.rst
index 169831c..99add34 100644
--- a/docs/source/compatibility.rst
+++ b/docs/source/compatibility.rst
@@ -77,6 +77,12 @@ Data contract and limitations
   movie frames), not slices.
 * d3proc is an optional compatibility source for legacy/minimal 2dseq word
   type and image-size metadata after Visu and RECO metadata have been tried.
+* Which derived properties a dataset carries is version dependent, so a recipe
+  whose conditions do not match, or whose parameters the files do not contain,
+  leaves its property unset. ``Dataset.get(name, default=None)`` reads one with
+  a default; a name no configuration declares still raises ``AttributeError``,
+  and a property that fails for a reason of its own -- ``affine`` on a scan
+  with no image geometry -- still raises that reason.
 * ``Dataset.metadata`` groups the Visu parameters the way the format defines
   them -- administration, subject, study, series, equipment and acquisition --
   and the ``SUBJECT_*`` parameters of the study file, which ``subject`` in
diff --git a/docs/source/tutorials/how-to-2dseq.rst b/docs/source/tutorials/how-to-2dseq.rst
index cb0d85a..2f61a6b 100644
--- a/docs/source/tutorials/how-to-2dseq.rst
+++ b/docs/source/tutorials/how-to-2dseq.rst
@@ -87,6 +87,20 @@ It is possible to directly access some of the most wanted measurement parameters
    >> dataset.flip_angle
    >> 10.0
 
+Which of these a dataset carries is ParaVision-version dependent, so a property
+whose recipe does not resolve is simply not set. ``get`` reads one with a
+default instead of an ``AttributeError``; a name that is not a property at all
+still raises, so a misspelling does not quietly become the default.
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+   >> dataset.get('TE')
+   >> 3.0
+   >> dataset.get('TE', 'n/a')      # where the scan records no echo time
+   >> 'n/a'
+   >> dataset.get('TEE')
+   AttributeError: 'Dataset' object has no attribute 'TEE'
+
 The ``visu_pars`` file is used to construct a 2dseq dataset. ``reco`` and
 ``d3proc`` are optional compatibility sources for legacy/minimal instances;
 they supply reconstruction word type and image-size metadata only when Visu
diff --git a/test/test_api.py b/test/test_api.py
index aec2042..1d1abcf 100644
--- a/test/test_api.py
+++ b/test/test_api.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 from brukerapi.cli import report as cli_report
 from brukerapi.cli import split as cli_split
 from brukerapi.dataset import LOAD_STAGES, Dataset
+from brukerapi.exceptions import UnsupportedDatasetType
 from brukerapi.folders import Folder
 from brukerapi.splitters import SlicePackageSplitter
 from test.synthetic import stacked_positions, write_2dseq, write_jcampdx
@@ -81,6 +82,40 @@ def test_metadata_reports_the_same_string_as_the_property_that_reads_it(tmp_path
     assert dataset.subj_id == dataset.metadata["visu_subject"]["name"]
 
 
+def test_get_returns_a_default_where_a_property_does_not_resolve(tmp_path):
+    """Which properties a dataset carries is ParaVision-version dependent.
+
+    A recipe whose parameters the files do not contain leaves its property
+    unset, which attribute access can only report as an AttributeError -- so a
+    caller had to wrap every read in try/except, and that swallows typos and
+    genuine recipe errors along with the absence.
+    """
+    with_echo_time = Dataset(study(tmp_path / "with", extra={"VisuAcqEchoTime": 3.5}), load=LOAD_STAGES["properties"])
+    without = Dataset(study(tmp_path / "without"), load=LOAD_STAGES["properties"])
+
+    assert with_echo_time.get("TE") == with_echo_time.TE == 3.5
+    assert not hasattr(without, "TE")
+    assert without.get("TE") is None
+    assert without.get("TE", "n/a") == "n/a"
+
+
+def test_get_still_raises_for_a_name_that_is_not_a_property(tmp_path):
+    """A misspelling must not quietly become the default."""
+    dataset = Dataset(study(tmp_path), load=LOAD_STAGES["properties"])
+
+    with pytest.raises(AttributeError, match="TEE"):
+        dataset.get("TEE")
+
+    # Nor may `get` turn a property's own diagnosis into an absence: a
+    # spectroscopy scan has no image geometry, and says so.
+    spectroscopy = Dataset(
+        write_2dseq(tmp_path / "spectroscopy" / "9" / "pdata" / "1", dim=1, dim_desc=("spectroscopic",), size=(16,), extent=(1.0,), frame_groups=()),
+        load=LOAD_STAGES["properties"],
+    )
+    with pytest.raises(UnsupportedDatasetType, match="rather than purely spatial"):
+        spectroscopy.get("affine")
+
+
 def test_metadata_can_be_exported(tmp_path):
     dataset = Dataset(study(tmp_path, extra=EQUIPMENT), load=LOAD_STAGES["properties"])