Caterpie 1st Edition Base Set: Ash's First Catch
Reviewed by Caleb Stapel · Collector · Updated September 2026
1st Edition · Base Set 1999 · Caterpie #45/102
Caterpie is the first Pokémon Ash Ketchum ever caught, and the earliest English copies of its Base Set card read “HP 40” where “40 HP” belongs.
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 Caterpie printings you own, the 3-second test below settles it before you read any further.
| Grade | Market Price | Share of graded copies |
|---|---|---|
| Ungraded (raw) | $40 | — |
| PSA 7 (NM) | $47 | 7.9% |
| PSA 8 (NM-MT) | $124 | 19.6% |
| PSA 9 (Mint) | $204 | 43.6% |
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $1,039 | 19.2% |
| Grade 6 or below | — | 9.8% |
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 Caterpie
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 Caterpie” 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 text means an early print.
Caterpie is a Basic Grass with 40 HP, illustrated by Ken Sugimori. Check centring first, then the stock: early commons bend easily, so a flat, unbent copy matters.
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
Caterpie is card 45/102 of the 1999 English Base Set, a Common Grass-type Basic illustrated by Ken Sugimori. It sits in the alphabetical run of commons between Bulbasaur (#44) and Charmander (#46), an unglamorous address for the tenth entry in the National Pokédex.
In most fans’ memory, though, Caterpie is the first Pokémon Ash Ketchum ever caught, in the anime’s third episode — a beat that did more for the species’ standing than any mechanic could. The design reads as a stylised swallowtail caterpillar, with the red horn standing in for the osmeterium, the defensive organ that releases a foul smell when the insect is threatened.
Its life after 1999 is long for a common. The same Sugimori artwork was reused in Base Set 2 (#68/130) and Legendary Collection (#69/110), then returned decades later in XY Evolutions (#3/108), reframed on a rebuilt retro template. Its line, too, is one Base Set left deliberately half-finished: Metapod made the set, but Butterfree did not reach English print until Jungle in June 1999, so for half a year the line stopped at the cocoon.
How Rare Is This Card?
Read this card by its grade split rather than by a headline population. 19.2% of PSA-graded copies reach PSA 10, 9.8% come back grade 6 or below, and the rest land in between — which is what set the price ladder above. The odds column is the number that matters, because high-grade supply is what the market actually pays for.
Caterpie’s graded population is mid-sized and its Gem Mint rate is 19.2%, a workable combination against a raw cost near $40.
| Card | PSA 10s | Total graded | Gem rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Edition Caterpie (1999) | ~278 | ~1,446 | 19.2% |
| 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
On 1st Edition and Shadowless copies the stat block reads “HP 40” where “40 HP” belongs — the letters and the numeral transposed. Bulbapedia, PokeBeach’s misprint database and the Elite Fourum guides agree the error is confined to the first two printings and was corrected by Unlimited, so an Unlimited Caterpie showing “HP 40” should be treated with suspicion. PSA’s Pokémon Error Guide does not list it, so buyers should not expect a special label.
Caterpie is not unique: Kakuna (#33), Bulbasaur (#44), Metapod (#54) and Vulpix (#68) carry sibling early-print slip-ups, most of them reversed HP readings or swapped Height and Weight labels. One filing quirk is worth knowing — PokeBeach files its Caterpie entry under 69/102, Weedle’s number, so cross-check by card name rather than by the number quoted.
What Makes This Card Collectible?
Caterpie earns its slot on being the place the whole hobby started for a generation:
- Ash’s first catch. The anime’s third episode made this the first Pokémon the protagonist ever caught.
- A line Base Set left open. Caterpie and Metapod made the set; Butterfree did not arrive until Jungle, months later.
- A real early-print error. The transposed “HP 40” sits on the 1st Edition and Shadowless runs only, corrected the moment Unlimited began.
The rest of the line is the Metapod review; the Base Set hub covers the run.
The Artist: Ken Sugimori
Ken Sugimori is one of the illustrators who defined the look of the original English Pokémon TCG, and Caterpie is one of their Base Set contributions. This section will carry their full numbers when the artist guide lands.
Caleb's Collector Verdict
Caterpie is the card that has been in the hobby since the first episode — a starter common with a real early-print error and a story everyone already knows.
People Also Ask
Is my 1st Edition Caterpie 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 (a genuine card is essentially opaque — a faint dark core line between the layers; cheap fakes glow through), the stamp rule (a real 1st Edition stamp is crisp and sits under the ink, and counterfeiters add stamps to Unlimited cards — read it with the drop shadow and the 1995-99 copyright line, never alone), and the back (fakes perfect the front and neglect the Poké Ball, the blue tone and the repeated text). 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?
Caterpie is a cheap raw with a decent gem rate — grade it for the set, not for the return. See Should You Grade Pokémon Cards? for the fee maths, and check a raw copy with the CardGrader scanner before sending it in.