1999 Pokemon Base Set Shadowless Charizard #4 Holo PSA 10

The second printing

Wizards of the Coast released the English Pokemon Base Set on January 9, 1999, under license from the Japanese original that Media Factory had published on October 20, 1996. The 102-card set was printed in four distinct English runs, and collectors treat each as its own card.

The first run carried the black '1st Edition' stamp. The second, now called Shadowless, is identical to it except that the stamp is gone: it keeps the thin HP and attack lettering and, most visibly, lacks the drop shadow along the right and bottom of the illustration window. The third run, Unlimited, added that shadow and heavier type, and a fourth updated the copyright line to 1999-2000. The shadowless layout is unique to English cards; foreign-language 1st Editions were printed with the shadow.

Wizards never published how many cards came off the presses in any run. One auction description calls shadowless cards, the first two print runs together, some of the most coveted pieces in the hobby.

Charizard, #4

Charizard is the set's fourth card, a Stage 2 Fire Pokemon with 120 HP, the Energy Burn power that turns all attached Energy into Fire Energy, and a 100-damage Fire Spin attack. Mitsuhiro Arita painted it; he was one of four illustrators on the set, with Ken Sugimori, Keiji Kinebuchi and Tomoaki Imakuni.

That card arrived in the middle of Pokemania. The cartoon premiered in U.S. syndication on September 8, 1998, moved to Kids' WB in February 1999, and by November 1999 was reaching half the boys aged 6 to 11 watching TV at 10 a.m. Early in 1999 Wizards sold 400,000 packs in less than six weeks. The market crashed within about a year, Wizards laid off 100 employees, and a Base Set Charizard fell to around $100.

Rarer than the 1st Edition at the top

The surprise in the census is at Gem Mint. PSA's online census, as fetched in October 2026, lists 58 Shadowless Charizards at PSA 10, against 851 at PSA 9 and 1,507 at PSA 8, out of more than 14,000 graded. The 1st Edition Charizard has 123 PSA 10s on the same census. In other words, the stamped card has been graded far less often in total, but it has produced roughly twice as many perfect copies.

An auction description written before the February 2025 sale put it slightly differently, citing more than 10,300 examples in PSA's census and fewer than 1 percent at Gem Mint. Census figures move as cards are submitted, crossed over from other graders or resubmitted, so any count is a snapshot.

Sales and a famous pull

At the 2021 peak, a PSA 10 shadowless Charizard brought $75,600 in February 2021, reported elsewhere as an auction result of over $75,000. In February 2025 a PSA 10 drew 22 bids at auction and closed at a $45,322 winning bid, $55,293 with premium. PSA's own price page lists $54,655 as its most recent PSA 10 result, without a date.

The card's best-known moment on camera came on October 30, 2021, when YouTuber Leonhart opened a sealed Base Set booster box that had come from a Wizards of the Coast employee and had been unopened since 1999. A shadowless Charizard turned up in the last of the box's packs.

Gem Mint copies from other graders trade far lower. CGC 10 copies sold for $6,000 in April 2024 and $7,506 in March 2025, a reminder that for this card the PSA label carries much of the price.

A note on labels: sellers often describe 1st Edition Charizards as '1st Edition Shadowless,' because every English 1st Edition is shadowless. A listing titled 'Shadowless 1st Edition' is the stamped card, not this one; for example, a PSA 10 listed that way sold for $227,999, several times what an unstamped PSA 10 brings.

How to tell it apart

Check three things. There is no '1st Edition' stamp at the lower left of the art box. There is no gray drop shadow along the right and bottom edges of the art window. And the HP and attack text are in the thinner type of the early runs. A card with the shadow and bolder type is an Unlimited; a card with the stamp is a 1st Edition.

Counterfeiters have tried removing shadows from Unlimited cards, so for a card at this level the grading label and certificate number matter as much as the card itself.

The numbers

Set

Pokemon Base Set (English), 102 cards: 69 Pokemon (16 holo rares), 33 Trainer and Energy

Card

#4 of 102, holofoil rare; 120 HP; Fire Spin, 100 damage

Print run

Second of four English runs; size never disclosed

PSA 10 population

58 (PSA census as fetched October 2026)

PSA 9 population

851 (same census)

PSA 8 population

1,507 (same census)

Total graded by PSA

More than 14,000 (same census); more than 10,300 per an early-2025 auction description

Timeline

1. Oct 20, 1996

   The original Pokemon card set is released in Japan by Media Factory.

2. Jan 9, 1999

   Wizards of the Coast releases the English Base Set; the first run carries the 1st Edition stamp.

3. 2000

   The first card craze collapses and a Base Set Charizard falls to around $100.

4. Jun 2003

   Nintendo moves the card game license from Wizards of the Coast to The Pokemon Company.

5. Feb 2021

   A PSA 10 shadowless Charizard sells for $75,600.

6. Oct 30, 2021

   YouTuber Leonhart pulls a shadowless Charizard from a sealed 1999 box that came from a Wizards employee.

7. Apr 2024

   A CGC 10 copy sells for $6,000.

8. Feb 23, 2025

   A PSA 10 sells at auction for a $45,322 winning bid, $55,293 with premium.

9. Oct 2026

   PSA's census lists 58 PSA 10s, fewer than half the 1st Edition's 123.

The world in 1998

• Sep 8, 1998

  The English-language Pokemon cartoon premieres in U.S. syndication, 20 days before the Pokemon Red and Blue video games reach North America.

• Feb 1999

  The Pokemon cartoon moves to Kids' WB as a Saturday morning show.

• Feb 12, 1999

  The Senate acquits President Bill Clinton on both impeachment charges.

• Mar 31, 1999

  The Matrix opens in theaters.

• Jul 10, 1999

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

• Nov 10, 1999

  Pokemon: The First Movie opens in North America; it takes $85.7 million in the U.S.

• Dec 31, 1999

  The United States hands administration 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 Shadowless Charizard #4 Holo PSA 10 is number 40 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 (73 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Shadowless and 1st Edition Charizards come from the same layout; the only difference is the small black stamp.
• PSA has graded far more Shadowless Charizards than 1st Editions but given fewer than half as many of them a 10.
• Only English Base Set cards were printed shadowless; other languages' 1st Editions have the drop shadow.
• In 2021 a YouTuber pulled a shadowless Charizard from the last pack of a box that had sat sealed since 1999.
• Many listings say '1st Edition Shadowless,' which describes the stamped card, not this one.