diff --git a/swift/account/server.py b/swift/account/server.py
index 803b90cca8..81c4d9049f 100644
--- a/swift/account/server.py
+++ b/swift/account/server.py
@@ -142,14 +142,8 @@ class AccountController(object):
     @timing_stats()
     def HEAD(self, req):
         """Handle HTTP HEAD request."""
-        # TODO(refactor): The account server used to provide a 'account and
-        # container existence check all-in-one' call by doing a HEAD with a
-        # container path. However, container existence is now checked with the
-        # container servers directly so this is no longer needed. We should
-        # refactor out the container existence check here and retest
-        # everything.
         try:
-            drive, part, account, container = req.split_path(3, 4)
+            drive, part, account = req.split_path(3)
             validate_device_partition(drive, part)
         except ValueError, err:
             return HTTPBadRequest(body=str(err), content_type='text/plain',
@@ -157,9 +151,8 @@ class AccountController(object):
         if self.mount_check and not check_mount(self.root, drive):
             return HTTPInsufficientStorage(drive=drive, request=req)
         broker = self._get_account_broker(drive, part, account)
-        if not container:
-            broker.pending_timeout = 0.1
-            broker.stale_reads_ok = True
+        broker.pending_timeout = 0.1
+        broker.stale_reads_ok = True
         if broker.is_deleted():
             return HTTPNotFound(request=req)
         info = broker.get_info()
@@ -169,10 +162,6 @@ class AccountController(object):
             'X-Account-Bytes-Used': info['bytes_used'],
             'X-Timestamp': info['created_at'],
             'X-PUT-Timestamp': info['put_timestamp']}
-        if container:
-            container_ts = broker.get_container_timestamp(container)
-            if container_ts is not None:
-                headers['X-Container-Timestamp'] = container_ts
         headers.update((key, value)
                        for key, (value, timestamp) in
                        broker.metadata.iteritems() if value != '')
diff --git a/swift/common/db.py b/swift/common/db.py
index c6137fe73e..1f70c89285 100644
--- a/swift/common/db.py
+++ b/swift/common/db.py
@@ -1407,28 +1407,6 @@ class AccountBroker(DatabaseBroker):
             DatabaseBroker._reclaim(self, conn, container_timestamp)
             conn.commit()
 
-    def get_container_timestamp(self, container_name):
-        """
-        Get the put_timestamp of a container.
-
-        :param container_name: container name
-
-        :returns: put_timestamp of the container
-        """
-        try:
-            self._commit_puts()
-        except LockTimeout:
-            if not self.stale_reads_ok:
-                raise
-        with self.get() as conn:
-            ret = conn.execute('''
-                SELECT put_timestamp FROM container
-                WHERE name = ? AND deleted != 1''',
-                              (container_name,)).fetchone()
-            if ret:
-                ret = ret[0]
-            return ret
-
     def put_container(self, name, put_timestamp, delete_timestamp,
                       object_count, bytes_used):
         """
diff --git a/test/unit/common/test_db.py b/test/unit/common/test_db.py
index 257e53479c..ce9b1f4df7 100644
--- a/test/unit/common/test_db.py
+++ b/test/unit/common/test_db.py
@@ -1662,21 +1662,6 @@ class TestAccountBroker(unittest.TestCase):
                 "SELECT count(*) FROM container "
                 "WHERE deleted = 1").fetchone()[0], 1)
 
-    def test_get_container_timestamp(self):
-        """ Test swift.common.db.AccountBroker.get_container_timestamp """
-        broker = AccountBroker(':memory:', account='a')
-        broker.initialize(normalize_timestamp('1'))
-
-        # Create initial container
-        timestamp = normalize_timestamp(time())
-        broker.put_container('container_name', timestamp, 0, 0, 0)
-        # test extant map
-        ts = broker.get_container_timestamp('container_name')
-        self.assertEquals(ts, timestamp)
-        # test missing map
-        ts = broker.get_container_timestamp('something else')
-        self.assertEquals(ts, None)
-
     def test_put_container(self):
         """ Test swift.common.db.AccountBroker.put_container """
         broker = AccountBroker(':memory:', account='a')