Double Charizard pull #shorts
Channel: Pure Inspiration
Date: 30/08/2022

Double Charizard pull 

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What Makes The 1st Edition Base Set Charizard So Valuable?

Let’s start with the holy grail of Pokemon cards, the 1st Edition Base Set Charizard. This is where it all began folks. With a recent PSA 10 copy selling for an incredible $420k, what we’d all give for a time machine now huh?! Even just five or six years ago, these were selling for around $10k. At the time, that seemed crazy money, but it looks like chump change now right?!

Anyway, missed opportunities aside, the iconic design has the power to teleport any big kid back to their childhood in a flash. It’s the ultimate nostalgic Charizard Pokémon card and any lucky owner should be proud to have it in their collection.

What Makes The Japanese No Rarity Symbol Charizard So Valuable?

Collectors go mad for misprint or error cards. And for our next Charizard card, we have to take our time machine all the way back to 1996. ‘No Rarity Symbol’ cards from the Japanese Base Set are widely considered the equivalent of the English 1st Edition. These cards are from the very first print run, and as the same suggests, they didn’t have a rarity symbol in the bottom right corner.

What Makes The Shadowless Charizard So Valuable?

As you may know, after 1st Edition, and before the Unlimited Base Set print run came Shadowless Pokemon cards. Although not quite as valuable as 1st Edition, because Shadowless cards were only printed for a short time, they are highly sought after too.

Interestingly, at the time of writing, only 54 copies of the Shadowless Charizard exist in a PSA 10, compared to 120 in 1st Edition. As you would expect, this makes them incredibly valuable and a wonderful investment piece for any collector.

What Makes The Skyridge Holographic Crystal Charizard So Valuable?

Next up we have an extremely unique and much sought-after card. The ‘Crystal Charizard’ from Skyridge, is different to its predecessors because of its colour, design and artwork. Featured a cartoon-esq drawing that almost pops off the card, we’re also treated to a pale background and eye-catching crystal holographic area.

Released in 2003, Skyridge was a good four years beyond the initial Pokemon boom, and one of the last few WOTC area sets to come out. As such, sealed product is incredibly hard to find, and mighty expensive if you do. Needless to say, this ultimate chase card now costs a lot of money, with recent eBay listings advertised north of £20k.

What Makes The Japanese Topsun Holographic Prism Charizard So Valuable?

Now for something so rare, it’s hard to even price!
Interestingly, Japanese Topsun Pokemon cards (which came out in 1997… 1995 is when they were trademarked) came in packs with chewing gum. There were two sticks of gum, and two cards per pack. Out of the 150 cards, 16 were ‘Prism’ cards, which is the holofoil design you see above.

Unlike early WOTC boosters where the chance of pulling a holo version were 1 in 3, the chances of getting a prism card in Topsun packs were only 1 in 40!!! Now we begin to understand just how rare the Charizard is, especially in a PSA 10! In fact, only 18 of them exist, and I doubt that number will ever change. At the time of writing, there’s a PSA 9 on eBay for over £13k.

What Makes The 1st Edition Neo Destiny Shining Charizard So Valuable?

This Charizard Pokémon card is special for several reasons. Firstly, this is the first time WOTC introduced the ‘shining’ design to their holographic cards, making the design totally unique. Next, the Neo sets were the last time they printed first edition cards. It’s a little stamp, but it makes he huge difference in terms of value. And lastly, there’s only 201 PSA 10’s in existence. All of these factors combined make the 1st Edition Neo Destiny Shining Charizard a hugely sought-after piece for high-end collectors.

What Makes The Unlimited Base Set Charizard So Valuable?

It’s hard to create a list of the most valuable Charizard cards, and not include every variant of Base Set! So of course, we must include the Unlimited Base Set Charizard.

Widely considered as the most graded card in Pokemon history, it’s not the PSA population that drive its value, it’s the sheer nostalgia. This is the card that every kid wanted, and many were lucky to have in ’99.

Being able to own one again is something many collectors truly value, and as such, continues to drive prices higher and higher. Even PSA 9s (where there are now over 5k graded) fetch several thousand pounds on eBay. It’s the price we pay to relive our childhood I guess 🙂