Beedrill · Base Set, what to know.
About the Beedrill card
Beedrill is card 17 of 102 in Base Set, released in January 1999, a Rare. It is a Stage 2 Grass-type with 80 HP.
As a Stage 2, it evolves from Kakuna, which places Beedrill deeper in its line and means most collectors hold it alongside the cards it evolves from.
Illustrated by Ken Sugimori. Sugimori is the lead character designer of Pokémon itself, so his card art carries the tight, on-model look that defined how the creatures appear in the games.
The card's flavor text gives Beedrill a line of lore: "Flies at high speed and attacks using the large, venomous stingers on its forelegs and tail."
About Beedrill in the Pokémon world
The Bug-Poison final form of the Weedle line. Three drill-tipped stingers and a wasp silhouette. Notoriously strong in early tournament play before defensive Pokémon caught up. Base Set Beedrill is a rare non-holo. Jungle reprinted it. Both have steady collector demand, with the Base Set print being meaningfully scarcer in high grade.
What is Beedrill worth?
Based on recent eBay sales, raw copies trade from $4.38 to $110 depending on the print and a PSA 10 runs from $168 to $3,250. The 1st Edition print is the most valuable, with a PSA 10 near $3,250. The table on this page breaks the price down by print and grade, updated 2026-06-02.
Print variants and how to spot them
Base Set produced three print waves that collectors track separately: 1st Edition (the launch print, with an Edition 1 stamp under the artwork), Shadowless (no stamp and no drop shadow on the right of the frame), and Unlimited (the long-running print with the drop shadow restored). On Beedrill, the price gap between these prints can run 10x or more, so confirm the variant before any purchase.
Grading and condition
Non-holo Rares like Beedrill are easier on surface but no kinder on centering. Wizards-era cards were less protected than the holos, so high-grade Beedrill survivors can be scarcer than expected, with edge whitening the usual cap.
If you are collecting Beedrill
For Beedrill, check centering by eye, edge whitening on all four sides, and surface under angled light. Non-holo Rares from this era are cheap enough that a PSA 10 submission on a clean Beedrill can make sense.
Three prints, three markets.
Edition 1 stamp under the artwork. The scarcest and most valuable Beedrill print.
No stamp and no drop shadow on the right of the frame. A short transitional print.
Drop shadow restored. The long-running print and the most affordable copy.
