1999 Pokémon Base Set Charizard #4

Charizard is card 4 of the 102-card English Base Set, released January 9, 1999: a Stage 2 Fire Pokémon with 120 HP, the Energy Burn Pokémon Power and the Fire Spin attack (100 damage, discard 2 Energy), illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita (Pokémon TCG API). CGC calls it “considered by many to be the Holy Grail of Pokémon cards.” The same card number was printed several times in English, and the print run moves the price more than almost anything else: on PriceCharting's summaries read October 20, 2026, an ungraded 1st Edition copy stood at $7,691.36, a Shadowless copy at $983.44 and an Unlimited copy at $333.70. This file covers how to tell the prints apart, how many have been graded and the sales on the public record.

1st Edition vs Shadowless vs Unlimited

CGC gives the order of the English print runs: 1st Edition first, Shadowless second, Unlimited third, then a fourth run it calls the UK print run of 2000. Bulbapedia adds that Shadowless came out shortly after 1st Edition and before Unlimited and was printed only for the English Base Set. Because 1st Edition copies also lack the drop shadow, sellers often list them as “1st Edition Shadowless”; PSA's label simply reads 1ST EDITION.

1. 1st Edition stamp: a “1” on a solid black circle with EDITION arched over it, on the left side of a Pokémon card about midway down (CGC). Only the first print has it.
2. Thin HP and attack text: shared by 1st Edition and Shadowless copies (Bulbapedia).
3. No drop shadow beside the art window on 1st Edition and Shadowless copies (CGC, Bulbapedia).
4. Drop shadow on the right side of the art box, added from the Unlimited print on (CGC).
5. Bolder HP and attack text on Unlimited copies (Bulbapedia).
6. Copyright line: on Charizard, T206cards lists an extra “99” on Shadowless copies, none on Unlimited, and “©1999-2000” on the final English print.

Check your copy in six steps

1. Confirm the card. Base Set Charizard is 4/102. Base Set 2 reprinted it as 4/130 and Legendary Collection as 3/110 with the original artwork; the Celebrations Classic Collection reprint carries a 25th Anniversary logo and the 2026 30th Celebration reprint a gold border and 30th Anniversary logo, both without the Wizards of the Coast copyright (Bulbapedia).
2. Look for the stamp on the left side, about midway down. If it is there, the card is 1st Edition.
3. No stamp? Check the right edge of the art box. No shadow means Shadowless; a shadow means Unlimited or later.
4. Compare the text weight. Thin HP and attack text points to 1st Edition or Shadowless; bolder text to Unlimited.
5. Read the copyright line. “©1999-2000” marks the last English print; CGC says those cards often look lighter than earlier runs.
6. If it is slabbed, verify the cert and check that the variety line matches the card you see in the holder.

Population snapshot

PSA's own pages, read October 20, 2026, run slightly higher for Unlimited: its CardFacts entry showed 489 PSA 10s, 8,477 PSA 9s and 106,275 copies with a number grade plus 90 Authentic. T206cards leaves out qualified slabs and notes that PSA's Unlimited count includes copies graded before PSA began flagging the 1st Edition and Shadowless varieties. For the 1st Edition, a PSA 9 cert (21501378) showed a POP Higher of 123 — that is, 123 PSA 10s. SGC does not split out the 1999–2000 print. See how to read a PSA pop report for the arithmetic.

At CGC, its May 31, 2022 count was 252 1st Edition Charizards with none at 10. In January 2023 CGC announced a 1st Edition copy graded Pristine 10, with sub-grades of 10 for centering, surface and corners and 9.5 for edges, the highest on its report. PriceCharting's monthly pop page (undated) now lists 5,383 PSA and 597 CGC 1st Edition copies, 38 of them CGC 10, with half grades folded into the whole grade.

Prices by print

Two cautions. PriceCharting lists about one Shadowless PSA 10 sale a year, so that figure — below the Unlimited PSA 10, though PSA has graded far fewer — rests on very few sales; and the 1st Edition PSA 10 summary sits well below the public results in the next table. Ungraded figures also differ by source: the Pokémon TCG API showed a TCGplayer market price of $954.65 for an Unlimited holo (updated October 15, 2026), and T206cards a TCGplayer price of $644.27.

Notable public sales

PWCC called its $420,000 result the all-time record for a Base Set Charizard. cllct, citing Card Ladder, says a PSA 10 1st Edition went from under $20,000 in 2017 to more than $310,000 in 2021 with no recorded public sales in between, and that Heritage's $550,000 beat the $420,000 set in 2022. On premiums and how results are reported, see how card auctions work.

Where the sources disagree

Checklist

• Match the exact card: 4/102, the 1999 Base Set — not a Base Set 2, Legendary Collection or anniversary reprint.
• Identify the print in order: stamp, then shadow, then text weight, then copyright line.
• On a slab, check the variety line (1ST EDITION, SHADOWLESS or none) against the card, and run the holder past the fake-slab red flags.
• Compare prices only within the same print, grader and grade, and note each result's date and whether it includes premium.
• Treat every population count as a dated snapshot; the PSA 10 count has moved both up and down between sources.
• Before submitting a raw copy, measure it with the centering calculator and read Pokémon card grading.