Gyarados 1st Edition Base Set: Gem Premium, Arita Art
Reviewed by Caleb Stapel · Collector · Updated September 2026
Gyarados is one of Arita's defining illustrations and a card that trades well below its recognition because of a deep 1st Edition print run. Raw copies trade around $547, while a PSA 10 gem has cleared $26,241 — 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 Gyarados printings you own, the 3-second test below settles it before you read any further.
| Grade | Market Price | Share of graded copies |
|---|---|---|
| Ungraded (raw) | $416 | — |
| PSA 7 (NM) | $1,337 | 14.7% |
| PSA 8 (NM-MT) | $2,067 | 21.2% |
| PSA 9 (Mint) | $3,530 | 20.1% |
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $26,241 | 3.6% |
| Grade 6 or below | — | 40.3% |
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 Gyarados
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 Gyarados” 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.
Gyarados is a Stage 1 Water-type evolving from Magikarp, with 100 HP. Arita's rendering of the serpent rearing out of a storm sea is one of the most recognisable Base Set images after Charizard itself.
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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
Gyarados is card 6/102 and one of only three Base Set holos drawn by Mitsuhiro Arita — the same hand behind the set's Charizard and Venusaur. For collectors who want an Arita vintage holo without Charizard money, this is the obvious door.
Its real oddity is a printing question nobody has settled. Bulbapedia states on one page that all Base Set Gyarados were printed with the “6/102” set number shifted too far left, and on another that the shift applies only to print runs after the 1st Edition and Shadowless runs. The hobby splits the same way, and third-party checklists split again. We are not going to pick a winner where the primary sources contradict themselves — the honest position is that the shift is real and its scope is disputed.
The four-print structure and the plate change are covered in the 1st Edition set guide.
How Rare Is This Card?
Start with the two numbers that describe the whole card: roughly 2,860 graded copies exist in total, and about 103 of those are PSA 10s. That is a gem rate near 3.6% — 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 Gyarados (1999) | ~103 | ~2,860 | 3.6% |
| 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 as such. The card's genuine oddity is the misaligned “6/102” set number — a real printing anomaly whose scope is disputed rather than established (see above).
The remaining Gyarados varieties — a red dot beneath the copyright year, a low-black-ink gray print, and black hickeys at the corner and in the attack text — are all Unlimited. Square-cut copies exist too: cards cut from uncut sheets rather than from packs, and graded as such.
A Japanese Pokémon Snap prize Gyarados also exists, carrying artwork by Ryouichi Abe and a camera symbol where the expansion mark belongs. It is a different illustration entirely, and it is the card's link to the same 1999 photo contest that produced the Chansey rarity.
What Makes This Card Collectible?
The case for this card, specifically:
- An Arita illustration. One of three in Base Set by the artist behind Charizard — and the affordable way to own his hand from 1999.
- Arita, without the Charizard premium. One of only three Base Set holos he drew — the least expensive way to own his 1999 hand on a holo.
- A real gem premium. About 103 gem copies against strong demand keeps the top grade meaningfully above PSA 9.
- A Snap-contest reprint exists. A separate, extremely rare Japanese Pokémon Snap contest printing is credited to a different artist — a specialist target.
The Base Set hub compares all four printings, and the Unlimited run is the affordable route to the same artwork.
The Artist: Mitsuhiro Arita
Mitsuhiro Arita (b. 1970, Fukuoka) was a fresh freelance illustrator when Pokémon became his first professional project in 1996 — he has drawn for the TCG ever since, 537+ cards and counting. In Base Set he illustrated only three holos: Charizard, Venusaur, and Gyarados. His Gyarados remains one of the most collected pieces of 1999 art, and in interviews he has noted people still approach him about the original Charizard above all his later work.
Caleb's Collector Verdict
Gyarados is a mid-set holo with three things that rarely coexist on one card: an Arita illustration, a real competitive role, and a top-grade premium.
People Also Ask
Is my 1st Edition Gyarados 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 — the gem premium justifies it. With about 103 PSA 10s, demand high enough to hold a real multiple over PSA 9, grade it if the centring and surface are genuinely strong. Gyarados was played, so raw copies frequently carry hidden holo wear — inspect before submitting. See Should You Grade Pokémon Cards? for the fee maths, and check a raw copy with the CardGrader scanner before sending it in.