--- a/hdf5storage/Marshallers.py
+++ b/hdf5storage/Marshallers.py
@@ -1475,7 +1475,7 @@
         if type_string in self.python_type_strings:
             tp = self.types[self.python_type_strings.index(
                             type_string)]
-            sdata = np.asscalar(data)
+            sdata = np.array(data).item()
             if sys.hexversion >= 0x03000000 or tp != int:
                 return tp(sdata)
             else: