Cubone

Numbered 50 of 64 in Jungle, released in June 1999, Cubone is a Common, a Basic Fighting-type carrying 40 HP.

As a Basic Pokémon, Cubone needs no prior evolution to put into play, which made it a practical card in the era's decks.

Illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita. Arita painted the Base Set Charizard and much of the early holo run, and his work has a painterly weight that set the visual tone of the Wizards era.

Cubone carries this Pokédex flavor text: "Because it never removes its skull helmet, no one has ever seen this Pokémon's real face."

A small ground Pokémon that wears its mother's skull as a helmet. Significant tragic backstory in the games. Fossil Common. Emotional collector draw.

Cubone is a Common, so raw copies trade for very little and most of the print run survives. The only real value is in pristine, high-grade copies, where even a Common can reach low triple digits in 1st Edition PSA 10. See the live price above for the current figure by grade.

Jungle shipped in 1st Edition and Unlimited, with no Shadowless print. The Edition 1 stamp under the artwork separates the scarcer 1st Edition Cubone from the Unlimited copy. The set also has the famous No Symbol error from its first print run, which adds a premium when the lower-right set symbol is missing.

Cubone is the most forgiving tier to grade in the set. Centering on the framed border is the usual cap, and the soft Wizards-era cardstock picks up edge whitening easily, but high print runs keep clean copies affordable.

Raw copies of Cubone are inexpensive enough that grading rarely pays unless you have a clearly pack-fresh example. For set completion, a clean sleeved Cubone is the practical move.