Spearow

Numbered 62 of 64 in Jungle, released in June 1999, Spearow is a Common, a Basic Colorless-type carrying 50 HP.

As a Basic Pokémon, Spearow 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.

Printed on the card, the Spearow Pokédex entry reads: "Eats bugs in grassy areas. It has to flap its short wings at high speeds to stay airborne."

A small angry brown bird with red plumage. The first wild Pokémon Ash encounters in the anime, which becomes a defining sequence. Common Base Set card. Quietly collectible because of its anime significance.

Spearow 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 Spearow 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.

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