Hobby Education: The Many Faces of the Base Set Charizard Card
Before the modern age of the Pokémon TCG, with multi-million-dollar sales on a monthly basis, it was a niche hobby that always seemed like it would remain in the shadow of the anime or even the video games. Even then, however, one thing always stayed consistent: the Base Set Charizard card was king.
In the 90s, it was the first card you'd ever look at and think "wow, that's cool" without even caring about monetary value. It was the very definition of the word then, and while modern art has far surpassed the standards of decades past, that line of thinking still rings true today.
As awesome as it is to even see one in person, not every Base Set Charizard is the same. Some are straight up more valuable than others, while certain variants require a closer look to find how much they're really worth.
Base Set Unlimited
When collectors talk about a Base Set Charizard, this is the one they're referring to. Straight out of the first-ever Pokémon TCG release in 1999, referred to as Base Set, this is the most common example of the iconic card out there in the world.
So why the "Unlimited" label? That's because there's a nearly identical copy of this card, the Shadowless Base Set Charizard, that fetches a much higher price and is significantly harder to come by.
The Base Set Unlimited Charizard has dark red shadows near the border, and just below the flavor text contains copyright dates of 1995, 96, and 98.
Base Set Shadowless
To an untrained eye, this card would look like the exact same thing when held side by side with a Base Set Unlimited Charizard, but two key differences are present to help you differentiate between the two.
As mentioned earlier, the Shadowless Charizard has no dark red shadow near the border of the illustration, and the card itself has a lighter hue overall. Second, the copyright mentions below the flavor text now include '99 in addition to the first three years mentioned.
Between the two, the Shadowless copy was released before the Unlimited version and in smaller quantities, making it a harder card to find and way more expensive even in worse condition.
1st Edition Base Set Charizard
The true king of all Base Set Charizards is the 1st Edition variant, which is easily distinguishable from any other copy thanks to its stamp on the left side just below the illustration border.
The 1st Edition stamp is only available to a select few Charizards that were part of the original Base Set release run, and were eventually taken off to create the Shadowless (unintentionally) and the Unlimited versions.
Such a small stamp contains a large amount of history and, of course, a large difference in monetary value. The most expensive Charizard card of all time was a PSA 10 1st Edition copy that came from a Logan Paul break which ultimately sold for just under $1M.
Base Set 4th Print
The fourth and final entry on this list is the 4th Print Base Set Charizard, which was released as a result of fan demand in the UK. It looks 99% identical to the Base Set Unlimited version with just one tiny difference: the copyright year.
On the bottom right corner of the Base Set Unlimited Charizard the copyright reads "1999 Wizards", meanwhile for the 4th Print edition said copyright now shows "1999-2000 Wizards". The reason for the addition of the year 2000 is that this batch of cards was only printed and released that year, when the rest of the Base Set rollout had already finished before the turn of the millennium.
It's a small difference that many people might never notice, but it carries much greater weight in terms of rarity. Everything from the PSA population count, to online marketplace listings, and finally to price makes it more valuable than the Base Set Unlimited version.
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Joaqin is a journalist with a strong passion for the Hobby. He has published work for HLTV.org, Rappler.com, and DLSU Sports. A decade-long Pokémon TCG collector, he recently shifted into sports cards to collect Lakers, Dodgers and Chargers players with growing PCs of Shohei Ohtani and Justin Herbert.