1999 Pokemon Base Set 1st Edition Charizard #4 Holo PSA 10

The first English Pokemon cards

The Pokemon trading card game began in Japan, where the original Base Set was published by Media Factory on October 20, 1996. Wizards of the Coast brought it to the United States on January 9, 1999. The English Base Set has 102 cards: 69 Pokemon and 33 Trainer and Energy cards.

Charizard is card #4, one of the set's holofoil rares, with artwork by Mitsuhiro Arita. Its popularity predates the cards: Charizard appeared on the cover of Pocket Monsters: Red, one of the first two Pokemon games released in Japan, and many fans prefer it even over the franchise mascot, Pikachu.

The card was printed in three variations. The 1st Edition run, carrying an 'Edition 1' stamp, came first and was much smaller. A shadowless printing without the stamp followed, and then the Unlimited printing, which added a drop shadow to the frame around the artwork. Wizards of the Coast has never released print-run numbers for any of them.

Pokemania

The 1st Edition Base Set was the first English-language Pokemon expansion issued in the United States, and Charizard was its most prized card. Decades later it is still described by specialists as arguably the most sought-after Pokemon card.

The year the set appeared, the Senate acquitted President Bill Clinton, The Matrix opened in theaters, and the U.S. women's soccer team won the World Cup on Brandi Chastain's penalty kick.

From $20,000 to $550,000

For years a PSA 10 1st Edition Charizard sold for well under $20,000. Then came the pandemic boom. In October 2020 the rapper Logic bought a PSA 10 at auction with a $183,812 bid plus a 20 percent buyer's premium, a purchase he described as buying back something he could never afford as a child. By 2021 the card had passed $310,000, with no public sales recorded in between, according to one sales tracker.

In March 2022 one PSA 10 sold at auction for $336,000, and later that month another brought $420,000, which the auction house called the all-time record for a Base Set Charizard. At the time, according to that seller, about 3,000 copies had been graded and 121 were PSA 10s.

Prices moved between roughly $180,000 and $400,000 over the next few years. On December 12, 2025, a PSA 10 sold at auction in Dallas for $550,000 with buyer's premium, beating the 2022 record. It was only the ninth public sale of a PSA 10 that year. An earlier Japanese 'No Rarity' Charizard had sold for more than $640,000 in 2025, so the English 1st Edition is not the costliest Charizard of all.

How to identify a 1st Edition

A 1st Edition Base Set Charizard carries the small 'Edition 1' stamp. Cards from the later shadowless and Unlimited runs lack the stamp, and Unlimited copies add the drop shadow on the frame around the art that the early printings were missing.

The PSA census numbers differ by source and date. A December 2025 report counted 4,993 copies graded with 124 PSA 10s; another, days earlier, counted 5,325 graded with 124 PSA 10s; and the seller of the $550,000 copy described it as one of 125 PSA 10s.

The numbers

Set

Pokemon Base Set (English), 102 cards: 69 Pokemon, 33 Trainer and Energy

Release

U.S. January 9, 1999; Japan October 20, 1996

Card number

#4 of 102, holofoil rare

Printings

1st Edition (stamped), Shadowless, Unlimited

Print run

Never disclosed by Wizards of the Coast

PSA 10 population

121 in March 2022; 124 to 125 in December 2025

Total graded

About 3,000 in March 2022; 4,993 to 5,325 in December 2025 reports

Timeline

1. Oct 20, 1996

   The original Pokemon Base Set is released in Japan.

2. Jan 9, 1999

   Wizards of the Coast releases the English Base Set in the U.S., with Charizard as #4.

3. 2017

   A PSA 10 1st Edition Charizard sells for under $20,000.

4. Oct 2020

   Rapper Logic buys a PSA 10 at auction with a $183,812 bid plus premium.

5. 2021

   PSA 10 prices pass $310,000.

6. Mar 2022

   A PSA 10 sells at auction for $336,000.

7. Mar 2022

   Another PSA 10 sells at auction for $420,000, a record for a Base Set Charizard.

8. Dec 12, 2025

   A PSA 10 sells at auction in Dallas for $550,000, a new record for the card.

The world in 1999

• Feb 12, 1999

  The Senate acquits President Bill Clinton.

• Mar 31, 1999

  The Matrix opens in theaters.

• Apr 20, 1999

  The Columbine High School shooting kills 13 people in Colorado.

• May 29, 1999

  Space Shuttle Discovery makes the first docking with the International Space Station.

• Jul 10, 1999

  Brandi Chastain's penalty kick wins the Women's World Cup for the United States.

• Oct 27, 1999

  The New York Yankees win their 25th World Series.

• Dec 31, 1999

  The United States hands control of the Panama Canal to Panama.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1999 Pokemon Base Set 1st Edition Charizard #4 Holo PSA 10 is number 11 of 100 in the trading cards entries of the FLOAT 100. 97 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (71 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Charizard, not Pikachu, is widely seen as the fan favorite; it was on the cover of Pocket Monsters: Red in Japan.
• Wizards of the Coast never revealed how many 1st Edition Charizards it printed.
• The $550,000 copy sold in the same auction as an uncut Unlimited Base Set sheet of 110 cards.
• A PSA 10 sold for under $20,000 as recently as 2017.
• The record English 1st Edition still trails a Japanese 'No Rarity' Charizard that sold for more than $640,000 in 2025.