diff --git a/poi-scratchpad/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/hslf/usermodel/HSLFTextParagraph.java b/poi-scratchpad/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/hslf/usermodel/HSLFTextParagraph.java
index d7b4b3cb71..c812f0df6f 100644
--- a/poi-scratchpad/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/hslf/usermodel/HSLFTextParagraph.java
+++ b/poi-scratchpad/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/hslf/usermodel/HSLFTextParagraph.java
@@ -714,7 +714,10 @@ public final class HSLFTextParagraph implements TextParagraph<HSLFShape,HSLFText
             return getDefaultFontFamily();
         }
         HSLFFontInfo ppFont = getSheet().getSlideShow().getFont(tp.getValue());
-        assert(ppFont != null);
+        if (ppFont == null) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Could not get font from slide-show for bullet-font '" + tp.getValue() + "'");
+        }
+
         return ppFont.getTypeface();
     }
 
diff --git a/test-data/slideshow/2cade576206d5bf9a89479446973deeda5a9b549.ppt b/test-data/slideshow/2cade576206d5bf9a89479446973deeda5a9b549.ppt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..265c8e505e
Binary files /dev/null and b/test-data/slideshow/2cade576206d5bf9a89479446973deeda5a9b549.ppt differ
diff --git a/test-data/spreadsheet/stress.xls b/test-data/spreadsheet/stress.xls
index 1539461dde..65a67126ea 100644
Binary files a/test-data/spreadsheet/stress.xls and b/test-data/spreadsheet/stress.xls differ