diff --git a/src/ape/managers/_contractscache.py b/src/ape/managers/_contractscache.py
index 5a72e28aab..24821a2137 100644
--- a/src/ape/managers/_contractscache.py
+++ b/src/ape/managers/_contractscache.py
@@ -12,13 +12,7 @@
 from ape.api.networks import ProxyInfoAPI
 from ape.api.query import ContractCreation, ContractCreationQuery
 from ape.contracts.base import ContractContainer, ContractInstance
-from ape.exceptions import (
-    ContractNotFoundError,
-    ConversionError,
-    CustomError,
-    QueryEngineError,
-    ApeException,
-)
+from ape.exceptions import ApeException, ContractNotFoundError, ConversionError, CustomError
 from ape.logging import logger
 from ape.managers._deploymentscache import Deployment, DeploymentDiskCache
 from ape.managers.base import BaseManager
@@ -695,9 +689,13 @@ def instance_at(
             )
 
         elif not isinstance(contract_type, ContractType):
-            raise TypeError(
-                f"Expected type '{ContractType.__name__}' for argument 'contract_type'."
-            )
+            prefix = f"Expected type '{ContractType.__name__}' for argument 'contract_type'"
+            try:
+                suffix = f"; Given '{type(contract_type).__name__}'."
+            except Exception:
+                suffix = "."
+
+            raise TypeError(f"{prefix}{suffix}")
 
         if not txn_hash:
             # Check for txn_hash in deployments.
diff --git a/tests/functional/test_contracts_cache.py b/tests/functional/test_contracts_cache.py
index 908aaba1d6..d9350bff7f 100644
--- a/tests/functional/test_contracts_cache.py
+++ b/tests/functional/test_contracts_cache.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ def test_instance_at_when_given_contract_type(chain, contract_instance):
 
 
 def test_instance_at_when_given_name_as_contract_type(chain, contract_instance):
-    expected_match = "Expected type 'ContractType' for argument 'contract_type'."
+    expected_match = "Expected type 'ContractType' for argument 'contract_type'; Given 'str'."
     with pytest.raises(TypeError, match=expected_match):
         address = str(contract_instance.address)
         bad_contract_type = contract_instance.contract_type.name