In today's red-hot market, the demand for Charizard Pokemon cards has never been hotter.
Considering that Charizard is easily one of the most iconic characters in the entire franchise, it's easy to understand why card prices continue to soar...
And much of Charizard's popularity can be traced to its debut as the cover mascot of the original Pokémon Red video game.
Since then, the dragon-like character has developed into an icon for the Pokemon franchise and collectors are willing to pay huge price tags for some Charizard cards.
Some of them are among the most expensive Pokemon cards in the hobby.
And in this guide, we take a look at the 15 most valuable of them all.
Let's jump right in!
More...
15) 2020 Pokemon Japanese HR Contest Winner Full Art Charizard
Sold in June, 2021 for $20,100
Despite the global health situation in 2020, Pokemon tournaments still took place at home and in shops throughout Japan.
From July to September 2020, contestants in the Charizard VMAX HR competition could participate in 16-player tournaments for a chance at winning two unique Charizard cards.
Winners of the first rounds consisting of four players each won the Full Art Charizard V shown here.
Those four players would then advance to the championship round for a shot at winning the Full Art Charizard VMAX HR competition card as the top prize.
The extreme difficulty of receiving the BGS 10 Pristine grade gives this card a significant boost in value.
By comparison, a PSA 10 example of this card has sold previously for around $3,000.
14) 2002 Pokemon Neo Destiny 1st Edition Shining Charizard
Sold in January, 2021 for $20,250
The fourth main expansion of the Neo Series, Neo Destiny, is notable for featuring both "light" and "dark" Pokémon whose characteristics and "destiny" are reflective of how a Trainer trains them.
Light Pokémon are caring and bright-spirited, while dark Pokémon are the exact opposite.
Dark Pokémon have appeared in several different series, but the Neo Destiny set is the only one in which you will find the light Pokémon.
Charizard appears as neither light nor dark in Neo Destiny but instead as a special Shining Charizard that gets its name from the unique foil design that glimmers and shines in the light.
The Shining Pokémon in this series also feature a unique rarity symbol in the lower right in the form of three stars.
13) 2003 Pokemon Skyridge Charizard
Sold in November, 2020 for $28,100
Skyridge was the third and final main expansion of the e-Card Series that included playable e-Reader applications on the cards.
Of the 150 cards in the set, six of them, including Charizard, possess a crystal-type power that gives them the ability to handle any kind of energy.
These rare holographic cards are unsurprisingly the most desirable within the checklist, but the Charizard stands atop them all.
This card was also the last Charizard produced by Wizards of the Coast, and they did not disappoint, as the artwork and eye appeal conveyed by illustrator Kouki Saitou are top-notch.
12) 1996 Pokemon Japanese Bandai Carddass Vending Prism Red Charizard
Sold in January, 2021 for $30,100
Founded in 1950, Bandai is a Japanese toy maker that produced a series of Pokemon cards in September 1996 that pre-dated the official launch of the Pokemon Trading Card Game that followed in October 1996.
To distribute the cards, Bandai utilized a network of vending machines, or carddass, as they called them.
There are hundreds of Bandai carddass Pokemon cards to collect, but the most desirable of them all is the prism Charizard followed by Blastoise.
In one of the earliest appearances of the iconic character, Charizard roars and breathes fire, creating an image that really pops.
11) 2006 EX Dragon Frontiers Charizard Gold Star
Sold in November, 2020 for $30,300
Released in November 2006, the EX Dragon Frontiers set marked the fifteenth main expansion of the EX Series.
Of the 101 cards in the set checklist, there are two rare Gold Star cards: Charizard (#100) and Mew (#101).
With the odds of pulling a Charizard thought to be roughly 1 in 144 packs, many collectors never had the fortune of pulling this card from a pack, giving it a reputation as one of the toughest Charizard pulls of any set.
Featuring a stunning image penned by the gifted hands of Masakazu Fukuda, the eye-appeal of this card is also tough to match as the powerful creature breathes fire onto the edge of the card.
10) 1999 Pokemon Spanish First Edition Charizard
Sold in October, 2020 for $35,100
To help promote the Pokemon Trading Card Game throughout the world, Wizards of the Coast printed the base set in several different languages.
The Spanish version offered native Spanish speakers throughout Europe and Latin America a much more enjoyable way to play their favorite card game.
You can see the Spanish translation throughout this card, but the Spanish version does leave the name "Charizard" as-is.
Other versions, such as the French and German, presented the Charizard character with a unique name altogether.
To verify the card is indeed a First Edition, look to the lower-left of the character box and you will find the "Edicion 1" symbol.
Just seven examples of this card have achieved a PSA 10 grade, making it one of the toughest multi-language First Edition Charizards to find in that condition.
9) 1999 Pokemon German First Edition Glurak (Charizard)
Sold in January, 2021 for $37,000
If you come across a First Edition Charizard from the German release, you'll notice that Charizard's name is instead "Glurak."
Also, unlike the English version, you'll notice the First Edition German version is not shadowless.
That's true of the other non-English first editions as well.
Of the 900 German first edition Gluraks that PSA has graded at the time of this writing, 50 have received the lofty PSA 10 distinction.
That's about a 5.5% success rate compared to around 3.7% for the English first edition Charizards, making it relatively easier to find in that condition.
8) 1999 Pokemon French First Edition Dracaufeu (Charizard)
Sold in February, 2021 for $37,300
The First Edition Dracaufeu, or the French name for Charizard, is also relatively easier to find in PSA 10 condition than the English version.
Though only 28 examples have achieved that grade, PSA has only graded 382 overall, meaning that roughly 7% of them are PSA 10s.
7) 1995 Pokemon Japanese Topsun Holofoil Charizard
Sold in October, 2020 for $37,600
The Charizard is the most desirable Topsun prism holofoil card.
You'll notice it features the same imagery used for the cover art of the Pokemon Red videogame released on the Nintendo Game Boy in Japan in 1996.
Though this card features a 1995 trademark date, most believe Top-Seika didn't distribute them until 1997, after the official Pokemon Trading Card Game launched in 1996.
6) 2000 Pokemon Korean First Edition Charizard
Sold in March, 2021 for $40,000
Unlike some of the other first edition Pokemon cards distributed in different regions and languages in 1999, the Korean version did not debut until a year later in 2000.
Still, they can fetch colossal price tags on the open market just like the other first edition sets.
Not surprisingly, the Charizard is the most desirable of the Korean first edition series.
5) 1999 Pokemon Portuguese First Edition Charizard
Sold in April, 2021 for $44,850
Only two Portuguese first edition Charizards have ever been graded PSA 10 out of the 34 submitted to PSA as of this writing.
Just two...
Given how the market for Pokemon cards has soared recently and the scarcity of this card in PSA 10 condition, I'm surprised this didn't sell for an even higher price.
Still, $44,850 is impressive and speaks to the strength of the Pokemon brand and the Charizard character, in particular.
4) 1996 Pokemon Japanese Base Set Holo No Rarity Symbol Holo Charizard
Sold in November, 2020 for $57,877
The 1996 Japanese "No Rarity" Charizard card is a true piece of hobby history as it marked one of the first appearances of the iconic character.
Most Japanese base set cards will contain a "rarity symbol" in the lower-right corner of the card that varies based on the card type.
Holographic cards in the set feature a star symbol, so if you find one without the rarity symbol, then you know you're looking at the more rare, first-print "no rarity" Charizards.
The "no rarity" Charizards are much more difficult to find as PSA has graded 3,634 regular base set Charizards compared with only 273 "no rarity" Charizards.
Furthermore, roughly 14% (521) of the regular base Charizards have achieved a PSA 10 grade compared to less than 2% (6) of the "no rarity" Charizards.
3) 1999 Pokemon Shadowless Charizard
Sold in February, 2021 for $75,600
While the "Shadowless" Charizard won't fetch as much as the first edition, it continues to climb to incredible price levels once thought unimaginable.
Several years ago, you could find this card in a PSA 10 holder for less than $10,000, but those prices don't seem to be coming back anytime soon as the card just keeps going higher and higher.
The "Shadowless" has the same overall appearance as the first edition minus the "1st Edition" stamp to the lower-left of the character box.
Sometimes you'll see first editions referred to as "First Edition Shadowless," but that's not necessary because all first edition Charizards lack the shadow behind the character box.
In that sense, you can always remember that all first editions are shadowless, but not all shadowless are first editions.
2) 1999 First Edition Charizard
Sold in March, 2021 for $399,750
While Pikachu may be the mascot of the Pokemon franchise, Charizard has long been the most desirable of all the First Edition Pokemon cards.
Appearing on the cover art of the Pokemon Red video game released for the Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Color during the mid-90s and possessing an overpowering attack certainly helped boost its popularity.
But, with the relatively recent surge in renewed interest in Pokemon cards, demand for the first edition Charizard has gone through the roof.
And prices of this card in PSA 10 condition have gone hyperbolic...
A few years ago, you could regularly find this card in a PSA 10 holder selling for less than $30,000.
However, in 2020 they started selling in the six-figure range and haven't slowed down since, with this example nearly breaking the $400,000 in March 2021.
1) 1995 Topsun Charizard Blue Back No Number Error
Sold in January, 2021 for $493,230
As with the other Topsun cards mentioned earlier on this list, Top-Seika didn't distribute them until 1997, even though their copyright date reads 1995.
And since they weren't part of the official Pokemon Trading Card Game, they are considered more in the realm of novelty collectible cards.
Still, an early Pokemon card is an early Pokemon card...
And, whether you're talking about the prism holos, green-backs, or blue-backs, collectors are willing to pay thousands of dollars for several of the Topsun cards when graded in PSA 10 condition.
But a price tag of thousands of dollars turned out to be quite an understatement in January 2021 when Goldin Auctions sold the most desirable of them all, the only "no number error" blue-back Charizard on record in a PSA 10 holder, for a whopping $493,230.
The blue-back checklist contains 150 numbered cards in total, but for some reason, about 50 of the characters were also printed with no number on them by mistake.
So, while the standard blue-back Charizard should contain a "006" on it in the upper-left of the front of the card, the "no number error" will be blank.
If you can find one and are lucky enough to have it graded PSA 10, you could be looking at life-changing money.
Charizard Pokémon Cards In Review
Clearly, collecting high-grade Charizards isn't the most friendly thing on the pocketbook.
Demand continues to soar as high as the dragon-like character can soar itself.
The video games, television shows, and the cards themselves transformed Pokémon into a worldwide phenomenon and that doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon.
It's hard to say if the value of Charizard cards will slow anytime soon as these cards have found their place as some of the most iconic non-sports cards in the hobby.