Shelley | Harebell | Richmond Shape | Trio | Fine Bone China | England | c.1945–1966

Shelley made bone china so fine you could see light through it — which made the factory's closure in 1966 feel, to its collectors, like a small extinction.

Shelley Potteries operated from the Foley Works in Longton, Staffordshire, and built one of the most devoted collector followings in English bone china, largely on the strength of its exceptionally thin, translucent body and the delicacy of its painted decoration. The factory traded as Shelley from 1925 and continued independent production until 1966, when it was absorbed into Allied English Potteries. The green Fine Bone China England backstamp dates production to the post-war period, broadly 1945 to 1966. The Richmond shape — a round, gently footed cup with a plain loop handle and a scalloped, moulded edge to the plates — is one of Shelley's more restrained forms, allowing the decoration to carry the piece without competition from sculptural elaboration. Pattern 13544, known as Harebell, depicts trailing sprays of the Scottish bluebell — Campanula rotundifolia — in soft periwinkle blue with vivid green foliage, against a white ground with a blue feathered scroll border at the rim. It is among the most recognisable and sought-after of the Shelley naturalistic patterns.

The cup is of the Richmond round form, translucent when held to light, with a scalloped rim edged in gilt and a blue feathered scroll border running just below it. The exterior carries a naturalistic spray of harebells in periwinkle blue and soft lavender with fine green stems and rounded leaves, the flowers rendered with characteristic Shelley freshness. The handle is a plain pale blue loop. The foot is plain with a gilt line. The saucer and side plate both carry the same harebell spray continuing around the well and surface respectively, with the blue scroll border at the scalloped, gilt-edged rim. The side plate shows a fuller arrangement of the trailing harebell sprays across its surface with large green leaf forms prominent at the centre. The interior of the cup is plain white with a single gilt rim line.

There are no chips, cracks or crazing on any of the three pieces. The gilding on the rim lines of the cup, saucer and side plate is intact with no wear or loss. The blue scroll border is crisp and unfaded throughout.

• Maker: Shelley Potteries, Longton, Staffordshire
• Pattern: Harebell, pattern number 13544
• Shape: Richmond
• Backstamp: Shelley Fine Bone China England — green
• Pieces: 3 — cup, saucer, side plate
• Material: Fine bone china
• Period: c.1945–1966
• Decoration: Trailing harebell sprays in periwinkle blue and lavender with green foliage; blue feathered scroll border at rim; gilt rim and foot lines throughout
• Gilding: Gilt rim lines to cup, saucer and side plate; all intact
• Condition: Excellent
• Buyer profile: Shelley collector; buyer seeking Harebell pattern pieces; collector of mid-century English fine bone china; gift buyer

A cup thin enough to show light through is either a feat of engineering or an act of faith — with Shelley, it was always both.