Chansey 1st Edition Base Set: A Sub-2% Gem Rate
Reviewed by Caleb Stapel · Collector · Updated September 2026
Chansey is the set's scarcest holo in gem condition — a card whose PSA 10 population is smaller than some far more famous holos. Raw copies trade around $396, while a PSA 10 gem has cleared $102,500 — the gap between those two numbers is the whole story of this card.
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 Chansey printings you own, the 3-second test below settles it before you read any further.
| Grade | Market Price | Share of graded copies |
|---|---|---|
| Ungraded (raw) | $400 | — |
| PSA 7 (NM) | $810 | 14.9% |
| PSA 8 (NM-MT) | $1,469 | 19.9% |
| PSA 9 (Mint) | $3,678 | 17.1% |
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $102,500 | 1.8% |
| Grade 6 or below | — | 46.4% |
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 Chansey
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.
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Which One Do You Have? The 3-Second Test
Most people who say “I have a 1st Edition Chansey” 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.
Chansey is a Basic Colorless-type with 120 HP — the joint-highest in Base Set alongside Charizard. That enormous HP pool made it a competitive staple in 1999, which is exactly why so many copies saw play wear.
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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
Chansey is card 3/102, one of the sixteen Base Set holos, drawn by Sugimori. Its collecting identity on this site is genuinely split between two cards that share a name.
The second one is the archaeology. In spring 1999 Chansey was one of the winners of the 64 Mario Stadium Best Photo Contest — a Japanese promotion built around Pokémon Snap. The prize card carries a camera graphic where an expansion symbol would sit and the words “Best Photo Contest Winners Prize Card”, with artwork by Kaori Someya. Roughly fifteen copies were awarded to that contest's winners. It is among the rarest cards in the hobby, and it borrows Chansey's name to become it.
That is why Chansey is an odd entry in a set of mascots: the ordinary holo is a quiet, inexpensive card, and the same Pokémon is also the subject of one of the great rarities. The print story for the card you are actually holding is the set's story, and it lives in the 1st Edition set guide.
How Rare Is This Card?
Start with the two numbers that describe the whole card: roughly 3,143 graded copies exist in total, and about 68 of those are PSA 10s. That is a gem rate near 2.2% — and the gem rate, not the raw population, is the number a collector should actually read. High-grade supply is what the market pays for.
| Card | PSA 10s | Total graded | Gem rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Edition Chansey (1999) | ~68 | ~3,143 | 2.2% |
| 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, compare it with the modern equivalent: a 2023 chase Charizard carries roughly 29,679 gem-grade copies out of about 102,490 graded — a gem rate near 29%, on a card printed and slabbed within a year of release. The modern card has many times the gem supply, at several times this card's gem rate — not because it is a better card, but because a 1999 card was printed before grading was mainstream and then spent two decades in a binder. A vintage gem count is not comparable to a modern one.
Population source: PriceCharting, September 2026. The vintage figure is PSA; the modern figure is a combined PSA + CGC count, which is how each is normally quoted.
Two caveats stay attached to every population figure on this site. Graded counts are submission tallies, not unique cards — resubmissions inflate the total, so the number of genuinely distinct gem copies is lower. And the census is a floor, not a final number: it grows with every submission wave.
Known Error Cards
None are documented for the 1st Edition printing. The “Black Dot Chansey” — a black ink blob above the attack text — is an Unlimited error, part of the same family of roller-debris hickeys that produced the Alakazam and Charizard varieties.
The open question that attaches to Chansey is not about this card at all. Nobody has a confident surviving count for the Pokémon Snap prize printing, only a handful of sales have ever been recorded, and what happened to the winners' own copies is unknown. We are not going to guess at a number the hobby has never agreed on.
What Makes This Card Collectible?
The case for this card, specifically:
- One of the hardest gems in Base Set. Under 2.5% of graded 1st Edition copies reach PSA 10 — a genuinely brutal ratio.
- The highest HP in the set. At 120, Chansey is the toughest body in the Base Set — a fact that mattered immensely in 1999 and still defines how the card reads.
- A famous \u201crare\u201d character. Chansey's collecting identity comes from the games as much as the card.
- A Snap-contest oddity exists. A separate, extremely rare Pokémon Snap contest printing carries a camera symbol instead of the expansion mark — a real target for the specialist.
The Base Set hub compares all four printings, and the Unlimited run is the affordable route to the same artwork.
The Artist: Ken Sugimori
Ken Sugimori (b. 1966) drew the Base Set Chansey. His original design for the species carried through largely unchanged into the card, which is why the 1999 illustration reads as a softer, rounder Chansey than later reinterpretations.
Caleb's Collector Verdict
Chansey is the clearest example in Base Set of a card where the grade is the asset. The raw number is modest; the top grade is genuinely hard to reach.
People Also Ask
Is my 1st Edition Chansey real or fake?
The 1999 Base Set holos are the most counterfeited cards 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 — but a faint grey “ghost” stamp can be an authentic variant, so read it with the 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 with the CGC forensic case study.
Should I grade this card?
Yes — grade it, but expect a lower number than you hope. Under 2.5% of submitted 1st Edition copies reach PSA 10, so a genuinely sharp, well-centred copy carries real scarcity value. On a mid-grade copy the fee may not clear. For this card the stronger play is usually to buy the grade you want outright. See Should You Grade Pokémon Cards? for the fee maths, and check a raw copy with the CardGrader scanner before sending it in.