Drowzee 1st Edition Base Set: Dream-Eater Without Hypno
Reviewed by Caleb Stapel · Collector · Updated September 2026
1st Edition · Base Set 1999 · Drowzee #49/102
Drowzee’s design root is documented rather than guessed — the baku, the dream-eating creature of Japanese folklore whose name is also the Japanese word for the tapir.
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 Drowzee printings you own, the 3-second test below settles it before you read any further.
| Grade | Market Price | Share of graded copies |
|---|---|---|
| Ungraded (raw) | $24 | — |
| PSA 7 (NM) | $40 | 8.5% |
| PSA 8 (NM-MT) | $45 | 22.0% |
| PSA 9 (Mint) | $92 | 37.1% |
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $600 | 24.9% |
| Grade 6 or below | — | 7.6% |
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 Drowzee
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 Drowzee” 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.
Drowzee is a Basic Psychic with 50 HP, illustrated by Ken Sugimori. Check centring first, then the yellow border, which is where wear shows on this printing.
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
Drowzee is card 49/102 in the 1999 Pokémon Base Set, a Common Psychic-type Basic illustrated by Ken Sugimori. The 1st Edition printing came off Wizards of the Coast’s presses for the set’s 9 January 1999 US release, making it the earliest English version of the card. It carries a black “Edition 1” stamp at the lower left of the artwork, applied in a separate pass over the printed sheet, and sits on the shadowless template used before Base Set gained its drop shadow.
The design root is documented, not guessed. Drowzee descends from the baku, the dream-eating creature of Japanese folklore whose name is also the Japanese word for the Malayan tapir. The Japanese Expansion Pack printing of this same card says so in its own Pokédex line, and the English printing swapped in a Red and Blue-derived entry instead. Pokémon Stadium, FireRed and the anime’s English Pokédex all repeat the baku descent.
Drowzee arrived without its evolution. Base Set stopped several lines short, and Drowzee was left unevolved alongside Sandshrew, Pidgeotto and Dragonair. Hypno would not reach cardboard until Team Rocket in April 2000. Value-wise the card is bulk, ranking near the bottom of the set’s 102 cards, but the 1st Edition is the printing collectors seek. Reprints followed in Base Set 2 (#73/130) and Legendary Collection (#73/110), none carrying the stamp.
How Rare Is This Card?
Read this card by its grade split rather than by a headline population. 24.9% of PSA-graded copies reach PSA 10, 7.6% 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.
Drowzee’s graded population is mid-sized and its Gem Mint rate is 24.9%, a good ratio against a raw cost near $24.
| Card | PSA 10s | Total graded | Gem rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Edition Drowzee (1999) | ~662 | ~2,657 | 24.9% |
| 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
No Drowzee error is catalogued for Base Set. The card does not appear on Bulbapedia’s error list, PSA’s Pokémon Error Guide, PokeBeach’s misprint database or Elite Fourum’s English Base Set Master Misprint Guide, so the 1st Edition printing is clean as far as the standard references go.
Two errors are sometimes misattributed to it. The “Length” data error belongs to Kakuna and Bulbasaur, not Drowzee, and the “Drowsee” misspelling dates from EX FireRed & LeafGreen in 2004, five years after Base Set. What does affect the card is the 1st Edition stamp itself — a set-wide stamping category, not a Drowzee design flaw. Treat those as stamp anomalies, not card errors.
What Makes This Card Collectible?
Drowzee is collected for a folklore origin the games state outright:
- The baku, confirmed. The dream-eating tapir of Japanese folklore is named on the Japanese card itself — not left to fan inference.
- An unfinished line. Drowzee made Base Set; Hypno did not arrive until Team Rocket in 2000.
- A documented anime debut. “Hypno’s Naptime” put Drowzee and Hypno on screen together in 1997.
The set’s other held-back lines run through Doduo and Pidgey; 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 Drowzee is one of their Base Set contributions. This section will carry their full numbers when the artist guide lands.
Caleb's Collector Verdict
Drowzee is a near-bulk card with stronger documentation behind it than most of its neighbours: the folklore is stated on the card.
People Also Ask
Is my 1st Edition Drowzee 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?
Drowzee is a $24 raw with a 24.9% gem rate — a strong ratio on a small stake. See Should You Grade Pokémon Cards? for the fee maths, and check a raw copy with the CardGrader scanner before sending it in.