Base Set Charizard Pokemon Card Breaks Record With $420,000 Sale

2022-06-25 07:53:02 By : Mr. Wellcare Alex

An all-time high for Base Set Shadowless Holo Charizard.

The Pokemon TCG's most famous card has just hit a new all-time high value, after a base set Shadowless Charizard sold for a massive $420,000 in the PWCC March Premier Auction.

This isn't the most a Pokemon card has ever sold for, but it does set a new record for this Charizard card, which has been in the news multiple times over the last few years for its high-profile sales.

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The listing on PWCC Marketplace was for a PSA 10-graded, Base Set Holo Shadowless Charizard. For context, 'base set holo shadowless' means it is a foil version of one of the very first English printings of Charizard, before they adjusted the frame for a second printing to add a shadow behind the art box. While any Base Set Charizard is going to be worth a decent amount, that number skyrockets if the card is shadowless.

Meanwhile, valuable trading cards are usually sent to companies like PSA to have their genuineness confirmed and assess the quality of the card. A PSA 10 is the highest rating a card can receive, with cards even fresh from booster packs sometimes not hitting the grade. According to Jesse Craig, director of business development for PWCC, "…while 3,000 copies of this card have been submitted to PSA for grading, only 121 have been granted the PSA 10 Gem Mint designation to date".

According to representatives for PWCC, this particular Charizard was "one of the cleanest copies in existence", with there being no sign of wear or tear, no imperfections in the holographic foiling, and the print being perfectly centred on the card.

Though the hype for Charizard dates to way before it, the current surge in its value can mostly be attributed to the rapper Logic, who in October 2020 bought a copy for over $220,000. This caused a surge in Pokemon card popularity, with it later selling for the previous record of $369,000 in the December of that year.

This sale doesn't even come close to dethroning the current record for the most valuable Pokemon card, as last month saw a copy of Illustrator Pikachu sell for $900,000.

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TheGamer's Tabletop Editor and Verified Card Boy, covering all things Magic: the Gathering, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dungeons & Dragons, and more. His favourite Pokemon is Porygon, and his favourite Commander is Kwain, Itinerant Meddler!