Abra 1st Edition Base Set: The Sleeping Psychic
Reviewed by Caleb Stapel · Collector · Updated September 2026
Abra’s story is in its naming and its behaviour. In the games it senses danger and teleports away, sleeping most of the day, so catching one meant blocking its escape before it fled. Its Japanese name honours the psychic Edgar Cayce — and the line’s famous legal entanglement belongs to the next stage, not to Abra.
This page covers the 1st Edition printing specifically — the stamped, shadowless-stock version from the original January 1999 run. If you are unsure which of the Base Set Abra printings you own, the 3-second test below settles it before you read any further.
| Grade | Market Price | Share of graded copies |
|---|---|---|
| Ungraded (raw) | $38 | — |
| PSA 7 (NM) | $63 | 8.6% |
| PSA 8 (NM-MT) | $78 | 18.9% |
| PSA 9 (Mint) | $152 | 36.0% |
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $735 | 27.8% |
| Grade 6 or below | — | 8.7% |
Prices and population shares: the Cards Worth Chasing ranking, PSA only, September 2026. Shares are of all PSA-graded copies of this card, so they sum to 100% with the grade-6-and-below row. Grading cost basis $59.99 (PSA Standard). Comps move — verify current sold prices before transacting.
Live Now on eBay: 1st Edition Abra
What the card is actually being offered for right now. Every listing below is filtered to the genuine 1st Edition card — no repacks, mystery slabs, card skins, or multi-card lots. These are asking prices, not sold comps, so treat them as the top of the market rather than what copies are changing hands for. Buying through these links supports the site at no extra cost to you.
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Which One Do You Have? The 3-Second Test
Most people who say “I have a 1st Edition Abra” don’t. Retail packs in 1999–2000 were overwhelmingly Unlimited printing — and that’s fine, it’s the same iconic card. The fast check, in order:
- Right edge of the art box: a dark drop shadow = Unlimited or 4th Print. No shadow = keep going.
- Left of the art box: a black “Edition 1” stamp = 1st Edition. No stamp + no shadow = Shadowless.
- Bottom copyright line: ©1999-2000 = 4th Print. The font weight is the tiebreaker — thin HP text means an early print.
Abra is a Basic Psychic with 30 HP, illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita. Abra survives well because it was rarely played, so high-grade copies are genuinely available.
The four printings of Base Set each have their own price and history: 1st Edition · Shadowless · Unlimited · 4th Print.
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PSA 8 prices from PriceCharting sold-comp data, September 2026. Unlimited and 4th Print look nearly identical — the copyright year is the difference. Each printing is its own card with its own price and history; see every printing: 1st Edition · Shadowless · Unlimited · 4th Print.
About This Card and Set
Abra is card 43/102 in the English Base Set, a Common Basic Psychic-type and the first stage of the set’s three-card Abra line. It is a separate card from Kadabra at 32 and Alakazam at 1. The 1st Edition printing is the stamped first run, marked by the black “Edition 1” symbol beside the artwork on the shadowless template. Mitsuhiro Arita drew the illustration.
“1st Edition” means the earliest of four English printings sharing that same Arita art. The stamped run sat on shadowless stock and accounts for only the opening weeks of the 1999 release. Plain Shadowless copies carry no stamp, Unlimited copies add a drop shadow to the art box, and a later 1999–2000 print is told by its copyright line. Abra was reprinted in Base Set 2 and Legendary Collection, so a first-print Abra is a specific object rather than merely an Abra.
The species arrived with a reputation attached. In the original games Abra senses danger and teleports away, sleeping some eighteen hours a day; catching one meant blocking its escape before it fled. It could also be received as a Game Corner gift, or traded on Route 2 in exchange for a Mr. Mime. Its animated debut gave it to Sabrina, whose Abra evolved mid-match.
The naming is where collectors most often slip. Abra’s Japanese name honours the American psychic Edgar Cayce. The line’s famous legal entanglement belongs to the next stage, Kadabra, whose Japanese name alludes to a living illusionist — not to Abra.
How Rare Is This Card?
Read this card by its grade split rather than by a headline population. 27.8% of PSA-graded copies reach PSA 10, 8.7% come back grade 6 or below, and the rest land in between — which is what set the price ladder above.
The best Gem Mint rate of this group at 27.8%, on a $38 raw — because Abra saw almost no play and survived in better condition than its neighbours.
| Card | PSA 10s | Total graded | Gem rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Edition Abra (1999) | ~828 | ~2,978 | 27.8% |
| Charizard ex #199, S&V 151 (2023) | 29,679 | 102,490 | ~29% |
PriceCharting population data, September 2026. The modern row is a combined PSA + CGC count; the 1999 row is PSA, the way it is normally quoted.
For scale, a comparable modern chase card converts to a gem grade at roughly 29%. Modern cards grade far better than vintage ones — not because they are better cards, but because a 1999 card was printed before grading was mainstream and then spent two decades in a binder.
Source: the PSA-only figures behind the Cards Worth Chasing ranking, September 2026. Two caveats stay attached to every population figure on this site. Graded counts are submission tallies, not unique cards — resubmissions inflate the total. And the census is a floor, not a final number.
Known Error Cards
Every catalogued error specific to Base Set Abra belongs to the Unlimited printing. “Jet Plane Abra” is a small, positionally consistent black ink mark in the sky left of the figure that resembles a distant aeroplane, and it is found on Unlimited copies. A second Unlimited-only fault, the “Yellow Stain Abra,” is stray gold ink. Bulbapedia and the Elite Fourum Base Set master misprint guide both assign these to Unlimited, and PSA’s Pokémon Error Guide and the PokéBeach misprint database list no Abra error at all.
No Abra-specific error is catalogued for the 1st Edition printing, and the four references agree on that point. An Abra can fall within the set-wide 1st Edition stamp faults — grey or faint stamps, and wet-ink back transfers — but those affect commons and uncommons broadly rather than Abra in particular, and a one-off hickey is not a catalogued error.
What Makes This Card Collectible?
Abra is collected for a design idea and a naming history, both specific to this stage:
- Named for a real psychic. The Japanese name honours Edgar Cayce — the line’s later legal dispute belongs to the next stage, not to Abra.
- A creature that refuses to fight. It senses danger and teleports away, which made catching one a puzzle rather than a battle.
- The start of the spoon line. Abra, Kadabra and Alakazam all sit inside Base Set, across three rarities.
The line runs up through Kadabra to Alakazam; the Base Set hub covers the run.
The Artist: Mitsuhiro Arita
Mitsuhiro Arita is one of the illustrators who defined the look of the original English Pokémon TCG, and Abra is one of their Base Set contributions. This section will carry their full numbers when the artist guide lands.
Caleb's Collector Verdict
Abra is the sleeping psychic: a creature designed to flee rather than fight, named for a real clairvoyant, and the one stage of its line the later legal dispute never reached.
People Also Ask
Is my 1st Edition Abra real or fake?
The 1999 Base Set cards are the most counterfeited in the hobby, and for a raw copy worth real money you cannot settle it from a photo. The checks that catch most fakes: the light test, the stamp rule (read together with the drop shadow and the 1995-99 copyright line, never alone), and the back. Above a few hundred dollars, a raw copy should get professional pre-authentication. The full fake-detection walkthrough covers all of it.
Should I grade this card?
This is the strongest grading candidate in the group — 27.8% on a $38 raw. A clean copy is well worth submitting. See Should You Grade Pokémon Cards? for the fee maths, and check a raw copy with the CardGrader scanner before sending it in.