Shelley china is one of the best representatives of the Staffordshire England potteries. The Shelley pottery, while it was in operation, produced china and pottery of great beauty and diversity. Their bone china is very thin and surprisingly very strong. The china is thin enough to be translucent, similar to Irish Belleek china. Shelley's bone china achieved these qualities because their bone china formula had the largest percentage of ground bone of any china manufacturer ever.

Shelley pottery is easily some of the best art pottery ever created. It began late in the 19th century under Shelley's first trade name, Wileman. There are dozens of styles and over 15,000 patterns of strikingly beautiful Shelley pottery for the worldwide collectors to choose from.