Ivysaur 1st Edition Base Set: The Starter's Middle Child
Reviewed by Caleb Stapel · Collector · Updated September 2026
1st Edition · Base Set 1999 · Ivysaur #30/102
Ivysaur is the middle of the starter line whose final form shaped the franchise’s release: Atsuko Nishida built the three Kanto starters by working backward from their evolved designs, putting Venusaur at the conceptualhead of the line. The card is also the stage Ash’s Bulbasaur famously refused to become.
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 Ivysaur printings you own, the 3-second test below settles it before you read any further.
| Grade | Market Price | Share of graded copies |
|---|---|---|
| Ungraded (raw) | $87 | — |
| PSA 7 (NM) | $93 | 11.5% |
| PSA 8 (NM-MT) | $168 | 21.7% |
| PSA 9 (Mint) | $351 | 34.8% |
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $2,375 | 12.9% |
| Grade 6 or below | — | 19.1% |
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 Ivysaur
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 Ivysaur” 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.
Ivysaur is a Stage 1 Grass with 60 HP, evolving from Bulbasaur, illustrated by Ken Sugimori. Centring is the usual weakness on this card; the surface is generally clean.
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
Card 30/102, Ivysaur is the Uncommon, non-holographic middle stage of the Base Set’s Grass-type starter line. The printing in scope is the 1st Edition, recognised by the black “Edition 1” stamp against the lower-left of the artwork box. That stamp sits on shadowless stock: no drop shadow frames the art, and the copyright line carries 1999 alone. Wizards stamped only the earliest weeks of the 1999 English release. The illustration is by Ken Sugimori.
The family has unusually deep design roots. Atsuko Nishida recalled building the three Kanto starters by working backward from their final forms, placing Venusaur — not Bulbasaur — at the conceptual head of the line. Shigeru Miyamoto later said Venusaur was judged so well executed that Game Freak shipped Red and Green rather than the planned Red and Blue, making this family’s last stage a quiet hinge in the franchise’s history. Ivysaur, the middle link, sits between those poles.
The line also carries one of the anime’s most remembered scenes. In “Bulbasaur’s Mysterious Garden,” Ash’s Bulbasaur attends a mass evolution festival, watches its peers all become Ivysaur, and refuses to change, standing alone against a Venusaur and its newly evolved kin while Ash defends the choice. It gave the middle stage a rare narrative weight: the form that was deliberately declined.
Within the Base Set, card 30 is a modest one by rarity and a demanding one by condition. The 1st Edition was confined to a short opening run, and its shadowless stock makes the printing the clearest evidence of the set’s first weeks.
How Rare Is This Card?
Read this card by its grade split rather than by a headline population. 12.9% of PSA-graded copies reach PSA 10, 19.1% 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.
Ivysaur's 12.9% Gem Mint rate is the best of the three starter middle stages, on an $87 raw with a PSA-10 price near $2,375.
| Card | PSA 10s | Total graded | Gem rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Edition Ivysaur (1999) | ~325 | ~2,522 | 12.9% |
| 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
The 1st Edition printing of Ivysaur 30/102 carries no catalogued error. Cross-checking Bulbapedia’s “Error cards” list, PSA’s Pokémon Error Guide, the PokeBeach error and misprint database, and Elite Fourum’s WOTC corrected-errors guide together with its English Base Set master misprint guide, Ivysaur 30/102 appears in none of them.
The Bulbasaur line is the trap. The well-known “Length” text swap — where the card reads “Length: 15 lbs” instead of “Weight: 15 lbs” — is documented on Bulbasaur (44) on the 1st Edition and Shadowless printings, and on Kakuna (33). Ivysaur is not affected. Because the line is so heavily reprinted, the error is routinely attributed to the wrong member. One-off ink marks turn up on Ivysaur listings, but a stray hickey is not a catalogued error.
What Makes This Card Collectible?
Ivysaur is collected for a design decision and a narrative one, both unusual:
- The starter line was built backwards. Nishida designed the three Kanto starters starting from their final forms, which puts Venusaur at the head of the line rather than Bulbasaur.
- The form that was declined. Ash’s Bulbasaur refused to evolve in “Bulbasaur’s Mysterious Garden,” giving the middle stage a rare weight in the story.
- Line closure with a holo at the top. Completes the Bulbasaur, Ivysaur and Venusaur sequence, whose final card is one of the set’s sixteen holos.
The line is covered at Bulbasaur and Venusaur; 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 Ivysaur is one of their Base Set contributions. This section will carry their full numbers when the artist guide lands.
Caleb's Collector Verdict
Ivysaur is the starter middle stage with the best story: the link in a line that was designed backwards from its own ending, and the form the anime’s most stubborn Bulbasaur chose not to become.
People Also Ask
Is my 1st Edition Ivysaur 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?
Among the three starter middle stages this is the one with the best odds, so it is the most sensible of them to submit. The reward is modest in absolute dollars but the conversion rate is genuinely strong. See Should You Grade Pokémon Cards? for the fee maths, and check a raw copy with the CardGrader scanner before sending it in.