Gastly 1st Edition Base Set: The Ghost That Waited
Reviewed by Caleb Stapel · Collector · Updated September 2026
1st Edition · Base Set 1999 · Gastly #50/102
Gastly is the only Basic of its line that Base Set printed — Haunter came too, but Gengar was held back until Fossil that October.
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 Gastly 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) | $55 | 8.1% |
| PSA 8 (NM-MT) | $62 | 21.9% |
| PSA 9 (Mint) | $148 | 37.0% |
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $754 | 23.5% |
| Grade 6 or below | — | 9.5% |
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 Gastly
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 Gastly” 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.
Gastly is a Basic Psychic with 30 HP, illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi. Check centring first, then the purple border and the corners, 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
Gastly holds slot 50/102 in the 1999 English Base Set — one of the unglamorous Commons that filled every starter deck. The 1st Edition printing uses the shadowless template: thinner text, no drop shadow beside the art window, and a copyright line still showing the extra 1999 date, with the black “Edition 1” stamp left of the artwork.
Base Set split its evolutionary lines. Gastly and Haunter were printed, but Gengar — the line’s final stage — was held back until Fossil that October. The pattern is documented rather than an isolated quirk: Clefable, Pidgeot, Butterfree, Rapidash and Dodrio waited for Jungle, while Sandslash, Dragonite, Hypno and Weezing waited for Fossil. Gastly is the family’s only Basic, the single entry point a collector can own from the first set.
The creature is built on a pun: Gastly’s Japanese name, Ghos, splices ghost and gas, and the card shows a poisonous haze around a dark core. The cloud is widely read as a hitodama, the grave-fire spirit of Japanese lore. The 3D art is Keiji Kinebuchi’s, and the background graffiti is apparently the Japanese name of Viridian City. Gastly reached Western screens in the anime episode “The Ghost of Maiden’s Peak,” and the card was reprinted in Base Set 2 (#75/130) and 2016’s Evolutions.
How Rare Is This Card?
Read this card by its grade split rather than by a headline population. 23.5% of PSA-graded copies reach PSA 10, 9.5% 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.
Gastly’s graded population is mid-sized and its Gem Mint rate is 23.5%, a fair ratio against a raw cost near $40.
| Card | PSA 10s | Total graded | Gem rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Edition Gastly (1999) | ~655 | ~2,787 | 23.5% |
| 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
Gastly’s most-cited Base Set fault is a rarity-symbol error: Bulbapedia lists it, alongside Magikarp, as an uncorrected error in which the Common is given an uncommon rarity mark. Because it was never corrected, it is common rather than valuable. Elite Fourum’s Master Misprint Guide documents a second oddity, the “Bug Obstruction Gastly” — an insect trapped between plate and blanket that left a cyan-layer imprint behind the card text; CGC authenticated one in 2022. Both the guide and CGC attribute that obstruction to the Unlimited printing.
No repeating fault is catalogued against the stamped 1st Edition specifically. What a 1st Edition Gastly can show are the generic stamp artifacts shared by 1st Edition commons: inverted back stamps, partial white stamps and occasionally reversed backs. The celebrated Haunter blue and yellow stains belong to Fossil’s holo Haunter 6/62, not to this card.
What Makes This Card Collectible?
Gastly is collected as the entry point to one of the set’s split lines:
- The line’s only Basic. Gastly and Haunter made Base Set; Gengar did not arrive until Fossil.
- A pun hidden in the name. Japanese “Ghos” fuses ghost and gas, and the cloud reads as a lore hitodama.
- A documented error, and a famous one. The rarity-symbol slip is uncorrected; the celebrated gland one belongs to Unlimited.
The line continues with Haunter; 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 Gastly is one of their Base Set contributions. This section will carry their full numbers when the artist guide lands.
Caleb's Collector Verdict
Gastly is the cheapest way into a famous evolutionary line, and its documented errors are more interesting than the card’s price suggests.
People Also Ask
Is my 1st Edition Gastly 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?
Gastly is a $40 raw with a 23.5% gem rate — a fair ratio, and the highest raw cost in this batch. See Should You Grade Pokémon Cards? for the fee maths, and check a raw copy with the CardGrader scanner before sending it in.