diff --git a/hgext/shelve.py b/hgext/shelve.py
--- a/hgext/shelve.py
+++ b/hgext/shelve.py
@@ -765,6 +765,7 @@ def _commitworkingcopychanges(ui, repo, 
 def _unshelverestorecommit(ui, repo, basename):
     """Recreate commit in the repository during the unshelve"""
     repo = repo.unfiltered()
+    node = None
     if shelvedfile(repo, basename, 'shelve').exists():
         node = shelvedfile(repo, basename, 'shelve').readinfo()['node']
     if node is None or node not in repo:
@@ -774,7 +775,7 @@ def _unshelverestorecommit(ui, repo, bas
         # We might not strip the unbundled changeset, so we should keep track of
         # the unshelve node in case we need to reuse it (eg: unshelve --keep)
         if node is None:
-            info = {'node': nodemod.hex(node)}
+            info = {'node': nodemod.hex(shelvectx.node())}
             shelvedfile(repo, basename, 'shelve').writeinfo(info)
     else:
         shelvectx = repo[node]
diff --git a/tests/test-shelve.t b/tests/test-shelve.t
--- a/tests/test-shelve.t
+++ b/tests/test-shelve.t
@@ -1793,5 +1793,23 @@ putting v1 shelvedstate file in place of
 mercurial does not crash
   $ hg unshelve --continue
   unshelve of 'ashelve' complete
+
+Unshelve without .shelve metadata:
+
+  $ hg shelve
+  shelved as default
+  1 files updated, 0 files merged, 0 files removed, 0 files unresolved
+  $ rm .hg/shelved/default.shelve
+  $ echo 3 > a
+  $ hg unshelve
+  unshelving change 'default'
+  temporarily committing pending changes (restore with 'hg unshelve --abort')
+  rebasing shelved changes
+  merging a
+  warning: conflicts while merging a! (edit, then use 'hg resolve --mark')
+  unresolved conflicts (see 'hg resolve', then 'hg unshelve --continue')
+  [1]
+  $ cat .hg/shelved/default.shelve
+  node=82e0cb9893247d12667017593ce1e5655860f1ac
+
   $ cd ..
-