Poliwhirl #38 value & price
Reviewed by Mumbles · Updated 8 Aug 2026Related Poliwhirl & chase cards
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Poliwhirl is one of those quietly likable cards from the original 1999 Base Set, an Uncommon illustrated by Ken Sugimori that a lot of collectors remember pulling as kids before Poliwrath ever showed up. It's not a chase card, but it's a genuine piece of Base Set history, and that alone keeps people searching for Poliwhirl value today. If you're wondering how much is Poliwhirl worth right now, the short answer is that it's affordable raw but climbs fast once it's been graded well.
Price history
InteractiveRaw value is $1.79, down 6% over the past year, with an all-time high of $2.51 in February 2023.
Recent pulls of Poliwhirl
Real pulls of this card across the tracked pack-opening sites, data no price guide has.
$153PSA 9 MINTPokémon Ultra (Spicy)Courtyard · 1h ago
$73CGC 10Elite Pokémon Gacha PackCollector Crypt · 1h ago
$40Ultra RarePokemon Premium PackTilt Rips · 2h ago$40Ultra RareTilt TicketTilt Rips · 2h ago
$65PSA MINT 9Bronze Pokémon Gacha PackCollector Crypt · 2h ago
$42BGS 9 MINTPokémon Pro PackCourtyard · 3h ago$73CGC 10Elite Pokémon Gacha PackCollector Crypt · 3h ago$40Ultra RarePokemon Starter PackTilt Rips · 3h ago
Chase Poliwhirl yourself
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Poliwhirl price at every grade
Market value at each grade, with how many exist (population). 1,163 graded, only 127 are PSA 10.
| Grade | Value | Population | PSA / CGC |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $156 | 127 | 40 / 87 |
| PSA 9 | $45 | 315 | 49 / 266 |
| PSA 8 | $18 | 397 | 17 / 380 |
| PSA 7 | $13 | 150 | 6 / 144 |
| PSA 6 | $10 | 93 | 2 / 91 |
| PSA 5 | $8.00 | 50 | 1 / 49 |
| PSA 4 | $7.00 | 22 | - / 22 |
| PSA 3 | $6.00 | 4 | 1 / 3 |
| PSA 2 | $0.10 | 4 | - / 4 |
| PSA 1 | - | 1 | - / 1 |
| Raw / Ungraded | $1.79 | - | - |
Prices & population from PriceCharting. Value shown is the PSA-grade market price; population is split by grading company (PSA / CGC).
Card details
- Set
- Base Set
- Card number
- 38 of 102
- Rarity
- Uncommon
- Type
- Water
- HP
- 60
- Stage
- Stage1
- Weakness
- Grass ×2
- Retreat cost
- 1
- Illustrator
- Ken Sugimori
- Released
- 1999
Attacks
- AmnesiaWater · Water
Choose 1 of defenders attacks. Defender cannot use that attack next turn.
- Doubleslap30xWater · Water · Colorless
Flip 2 coins. This attack does 30 damage times number of heads.
Where to pull Poliwhirl
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The collector's take on Poliwhirl
Is Poliwhirl worth grading?
Here's the honest breakdown on Poliwhirl price at different grades: a raw, ungraded copy sits around $2, a Grade 9 jumps to $45, and a PSA 10 goes for $155, which works out to about 74.2x the raw price. That's a real multiplier, but gem mint 10s are genuinely hard to land, Base Set cards from 1999 often show print lines, centering issues, or edge wear that keep them out of that top grade. Grading costs money and takes time, and there's no guarantee your copy comes back a 10, so if you're sending one in, do it because you believe in the centering and surface, not just because the math looks good on paper.
How rare is Poliwhirl?
Across every grading submission on record, there are 1,163 graded copies of Poliwhirl, and only 127 of those have earned a PSA 10. That's roughly one in nine graded copies hitting gem mint, which tells you this card isn't impossible to find in top condition, but it's far from common either. That kind of population spread is exactly why the price gap between a raw copy and a PSA 10 Poliwhirl is as wide as it is: scarcity at the top end genuinely drives value.
Where can you pull Poliwhirl?
PackSpy has tracked Poliwhirl being pulled 200 or more times across packs, courtyard, mnstr, and collector-crypt, with the biggest recorded pull value hitting $288, so this isn't a card that's purely a secondary market buy. We've seen it turn up in packs like XY Evolutions, Pokémon Master Pack, Pack 1, The Amazing Chase Encore, and Pokémon Pro Pack. That said, it's worth remembering that opening packs is a gamble no matter what, most rips don't come close to covering their cost, and our pull data is really about showing you where Poliwhirl actually shows up in the wild, not promising you a hit.
Questions people ask
How much is Poliwhirl worth?+
A raw, ungraded Poliwhirl is worth around $2 right now. Once graded, the value climbs quickly, with a Grade 9 sitting at $45 and a PSA 10 reaching $155, so condition makes a big difference.
Is Poliwhirl worth grading?+
It can be, since a PSA 10 sells for about 74.2x what a raw copy goes for. But with only 127 PSA 10s out of 1,163 total graded copies, gem mint is genuinely tough to hit, so weigh the grading cost against the actual condition of your card before sending it in.
How much is a PSA 10 Poliwhirl worth?+
A PSA 10 Poliwhirl is currently valued at $155. That's out of just 127 copies that have ever earned that top grade, out of 1,163 graded in total.
Other Poliwhirl cards & values
Every Poliwhirl card we track, ranked by value.
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Mumbles built PackSpy so pack-opening data would not be a guessing game. We track real pulls and live card prices across the top pack sites and show what is actually happening, no hype, just the numbers. Every price and population figure here is pulled from live market data. More about Mumbles.
Open a pack that holds Poliwhirl
Rip real, graded Pokémon packs live on the top pack-opening sites, the same ones PackSpy tracks. Our #1 pick right now is LastPack.
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