"The tale is told of Joseph Asscher, the greatest cleaver of the day," wrote Matthew Hart in his book "Diamond: A Journey to the Heart of an Obsession" (2002), "that when he prepared to cleave the largest diamond ever known … he had a doctor and nurse standing by and when he finally struck the diamond … he fainted dead away". Lord Ian Balfour, in his book "Famous Diamonds" (2009), dispels the fainting story, suggesting it was more likely Joseph would have celebrated, opening a bottle of champagne. When Joseph's nephew Louis heard the story, he exclaimed "No Asscher would ever faint over any operation on any diamond".