Diglett 1st Edition Base Set: The First Pokémon Ever?
Reviewed by Caleb Stapel · Collector · Updated September 2026
1st Edition · Base Set 1999 · Diglett #47/102
Diglett is a 10 HP sliver of a card, and the creature behind it may be the oldest idea in the franchise — Game Freak’s Shigeki Morimoto has said he drew it as a child, years before Pokémon existed.
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 Diglett printings you own, the 3-second test below settles it before you read any further.
| Grade | Market Price | Share of graded copies |
|---|---|---|
| Ungraded (raw) | $21 | — |
| PSA 7 (NM) | $30 | 8.7% |
| PSA 8 (NM-MT) | $52 | 20.3% |
| PSA 9 (Mint) | $89 | 37.6% |
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $483 | 26.3% |
| Grade 6 or below | — | 7.1% |
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 Diglett
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 Diglett” 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.
Diglett is a Basic Fighting with 10 HP, illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi. Check centring first, then the edges — a 10 HP common was played, so corner wear is where this card falls apart.
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
Diglett is card 47/102 of the 1999 English Base Set, a Common Fighting-type Basic illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi. The set launched on 9 January 1999, and the 1st Edition run — the stamped, shadowless-stock wave — lasted only into early March before Wizards of the Coast retired the stamp. A genuine 1st Edition copy carries the black “Edition 1” badge at the lower-left of the artwork, a copyright line reading ©1995, 96, 98 Nintendo, Creatures, GAMEFREAK ©1999, and none of the drop shadow that defines later printings.
For all its ordinariness, the creature behind the card may be the oldest idea in the franchise. Game Freak’s Shigeki Morimoto has said more than once — including through his in-game character in Pokémon Sun and Moon — that he drew Diglett as a child and made it the star of a flip-book animation, years before Capsule Monsters or Pocket Monsters existed. Collectors therefore treat Diglett as a candidate for the earliest Pokémon concept ever sketched, a claim that sits alongside rather than contradicts Rhydon’s documented status as the first Pokémon designed for the games.
Diglett reached screens early too: the anime episode “Dig Those Diglett!” aired in Japan in October 1997 and in the United States in October 1998, months before the cards arrived. The card was reprinted in Base Set 2 (#71/130), which dropped the 1st Edition treatment entirely, and again in 2016’s Evolutions. Among the four English printings, the 1st Edition remains the scarcest.
How Rare Is This Card?
Read this card by its grade split rather than by a headline population. 26.3% of PSA-graded copies reach PSA 10, 7.1% 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.
Diglett has one of the better gem rates in this batch at 26.3%, on a raw cost near $21.
| Card | PSA 10s | Total graded | Gem rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Edition Diglett (1999) | ~674 | ~2,563 | 26.3% |
| 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
The 1st Edition printing of Diglett #47 is not known to carry an error. The mistake commonly attached to this card — a Fighting Energy symbol rotated roughly 90 degrees — belongs to the Unlimited print, and Elite Fourum’s English Base Set Master Misprint Guide files it there. Community research traces it to one Unlimited run packed into the Base Set 2-Player Starter Set, where several copies per box were reported.
PSA labels the card “Fight Symbol Error” and lists it under 1999 Base Set rather than its 1st Edition section; CGC calls it “Rotated Energy Symbol Error.” A separate magenta obstruction and rare brown ink speckles are likewise recorded on Unlimited copies only. The 1st Edition appears clean — and the direction is said to be counter-clockwise, not the clockwise direction older database posts carry.
What Makes This Card Collectible?
Diglett is collected for a claim about the franchise’s very first sketch:
- Possibly the first Pokémon ever drawn. Morimoto has said he sketched Diglett as a child, before the games existed.
- A famous error on the wrong printing. The rotated Fighting symbol is real — and it is Unlimited-only, not on this print.
- The cheapest way into the set’s early commons. A modest population and a 26% gem rate at a low raw cost.
The evolved form is the Dugtrio review; the Base Set hub covers the run.
The Artist: Keiji Kinebuchi
Keiji Kinebuchi is one of the illustrators who defined the look of the original English Pokémon TCG, and Diglett is one of their Base Set contributions. This section will carry their full numbers when the artist guide lands.
Caleb's Collector Verdict
Diglett is the quietest card in the set and possibly the oldest idea in it — a child’s sketch that became #47 of 102.
People Also Ask
Is my 1st Edition Diglett 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?
Diglett is a $21 raw with a 26.3% gem rate — a friendly ratio, best graded for the set. See Should You Grade Pokémon Cards? for the fee maths, and check a raw copy with the CardGrader scanner before sending it in.