Giovanni's Pinsir

Giovanni's Pinsir is card 24 of 132 in Gym Challenge, released in October 2000, a Rare. It is a Basic Grass-type with 70 HP.

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

Giovanni is the Ground-type Gym Leader of Viridian City and the secret boss of Team Rocket. Giovanni's Pinsir is part of that themed lineup.

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.

A Bug-type stag beetle with prominent pincers. Jungle holo Pinsir is one of the more aggressive-looking Jungle holos and has steady collector demand.

Giovanni's Pinsir is a non-holo Rare. In Gym Challenge, value concentrates in the holo rares, so a Giovanni's Pinsir trades modestly, though a clean, well-centered 1st Edition copy in PSA 10 is scarcer than the print run suggests and carries a real premium. Check the live price above for the figure by grade.

Gym Challenge shipped in 1st Edition and Unlimited, with no Shadowless print. The trainer-prefix naming runs across the set, and the 1st Edition Giovanni's Pinsir carries the Edition 1 stamp and a premium over Unlimited in matching grade.

Non-holo Rares like Giovanni's Pinsir are easier on surface but no kinder on centering. Wizards-era cards were less protected than the holos, so high-grade Giovanni's Pinsir survivors can be scarcer than expected, with edge whitening the usual cap.

For Giovanni's Pinsir, 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 Giovanni's Pinsir can make sense.