Someone was offered a “1st Edition Charizard” for $200 and asked Reddit about it. This reply took it apart in five lines:
First off, who would be selling arguably the most famous Pokemon card, worth thousands of dollars raw, for $200? … 1st edition stamp is wrong. … Wrong font for 4/102. Wrong font and spacing for 120 HP. Wrong copyright text at the bottom. Wrong border, it should be shadowless.
u/Samsky on r/PokemonCardValue, April 2025
Every one of those tells shows up below. First, though, it helps to know which Charizards counterfeiters actually go after, because it isn’t just the famous one. Charizard is the most-faked subject in all of trading cards in PSA’s 2025 Fraud Report, ahead of Michael Jordan. The two cards PSA saw faked most often weren’t the 1999 1st Edition, though. They were a pair of 2014 M Charizard EX cards that sell for under $250.
PSA’s explanation is that counterfeiters have moved down-market, to cards with a famous name, decent resale value and simple printing. As PSA’s Matt Hendler put it, they go after “the $10 or $20 bill instead of the $100.” If you own a modern Charizard, I wouldn’t assume it’s too cheap to fake.
| Card | Set and number | Why it’s here |
|---|---|---|
| M Charizard EX (secret rare) | XY Flashfire 108/106 (2014) | #2 most-counterfeited card of any kind (PSA) |
| M Charizard EX | XY Flashfire 69/106 (2014) | #3 most-counterfeited (PSA) |
| Charizard, 1st Edition | Base Set 4/102 (1999) | #4 most-counterfeited (PSA) |
| M Charizard EX | XY Generations 12/83 (2016) | #6 most-counterfeited (PSA) |
| Charizard ex (special illustration rare) | Scarlet & Violet 151 199/165 (2023) | Fastest-growing fake, up 480% in a year; also PSA’s #2 most-altered card |
| Charizard (Japanese) | Japanese Base Set No. 006 (1996) | PSA’s #5 most-altered card |
Base Set Charizard 4/102 (1999)
With the Base Set card, the first question isn’t “is it fake?” but “which print is it supposed to be?” The same card was printed four ways in English, worth anything from a few hundred dollars to six figures, and plenty of “fakes” turn out to be a cheaper real print sold as a pricier one.
| Check | 1st Edition | Shadowless | Unlimited | “4th print” |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black “Edition 1” stamp below the lower left of the art box | Yes | No | No | No |
| Drop shadow along the right and bottom edges of the art box | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Copyright line reads “© 1995, 96, 98, 99 Nintendo…” | Yes | Yes | No (ends at “98”) | No |
| Wizards copyright reads “1999-2000” | No | No | No | Yes |
The most useful thing that table tells you: a 1st Edition stamp on a card with a drop shadow is fake or altered, because 1st Edition was only ever printed shadowless. Some popular guides also get the copyright line backwards. “1999-2000” marks the late 4th print, or Base Set 2 with its different number. It never means 1st Edition.
Tells on a fake Base Set Charizard
Base Set is the only set without a set symbol, so the space to the right of the art box should be empty. A symbol there means you’re holding a later reprint.
The holo is the giveaway collectors mention most. Base Set uses the old “starlight” pattern, with stars that pop out as you tilt the card, and only inside the art box. A flat, grainy or all-over rainbow shine is wrong, and so is any foil on the yellow bar under the art or around the Pokémon Power text.
The card data should match exactly: 120 HP, Stage 2, evolves from Charmeleon, Pokémon Power “Energy Burn”, and Fire Spin for four Fire Energy and 100 damage, with a retreat cost of 3 and art by Mitsuhiro Arita.
Lettering and layout drift on most fakes. One documented by CGC had a slightly larger evolution box, a taller “Charizard” name and attack text that was too big and ran too far right, plus a typo in the Pokédex text (“Its” for “its”). Another, in a fake slab, had text that was “a bit too bold”, with Fire Spin crammed against its energy cost (Elite Fourum).
Fakes also tend to run dark or oversaturated, with purplish blues and an orange tint to the red on the back’s Poké Ball. Real shadowless cards vary in color, though, so I wouldn’t call a card on color alone. The edge helps more: English cards from this era have a thin black layer inside, which shows as a dark line along the edge under a bright light. Under a loupe, most fakes look soft, because they start from a scan rather than the original print files.
A correct holo doesn’t prove much by itself. CGC documented a fake built on a genuine Wizards-era holo card: the ink had been chemically stripped and a printed Charizard glued on top. What gave it away was the art, which looked like it was sitting on the card rather than printed into it.
Fakes don’t only come through sellers, either. This one reached a parent by way of a school trade:
The back is too much shiny and there is no holo on the charizard at all. … i think i was fooled by a kid that exchanged cards with my son in his school.
u/Useful-Revolution253 on r/PokemonCardValue, June 2026
Fake 1st Edition stamps on real cards
The more common scam with this card is a fake 1st Edition stamp added to a real Shadowless or Unlimited Charizard, which can multiply what it sells for. Added stamps have made it into PSA slabs. The stamp’s black usually doesn’t quite match the rest of the black text, or it has a different sheen, and it can sit slightly raised on top of the gloss with a faint overspray around it. On a card with a drop shadow, the stamp is fake by definition.
smpratte compares real and fake stamps on PSA-graded cards here:
Stamp thickness isn’t a tell. Real 1st Edition Charizards come with thick and thin stamps, and PSA labels some “Thick Stamp”.
M Charizard EX 108/106, XY Flashfire (2014)
This full-art secret rare, the black and blue Mega Charizard X numbered 108/106, was the second most-counterfeited card PSA saw in 2025. Only the 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie beat it.
The quickest check is the copyright year. The real card says 2014, and a known fake variant says 2016. The real card also has an etched texture you can feel with a fingertip, where fakes are smooth or have the texture printed flat. ctrlaltQQ has documented other fake variants too: some with red Japanese text and a silver Mega Evolution box, some with borders that don’t join properly on the left and bottom, and some whose colors are plainly wrong.
It’s easier to see side by side. ctrlaltQQ puts a real 108/106 next to several fakes:
M Charizard EX 69/106 (Flashfire) and 12/83 (Generations)
These two sell for under $100 raw and still rank third and sixth among the most-counterfeited cards in PSA’s data. Nobody has published tells specific to either yet, so it comes down to the modern-card checks. The copyright year should match the set, 2014 for Flashfire and 2016 for Generations. The holo shouldn’t flash rainbow across the lettering, and the “EX” logo should change its shine as you tilt the card. Then check the edge line and the back as you would on any card.
69/106 is the black Mega Charizard X. Don’t confuse it with 13/106, the orange Mega Charizard Y. Both are real.
Charizard ex 199/165, Scarlet & Violet 151 (2023)
The 151 special illustration rare is the fastest-growing counterfeit in PSA’s data, with fakes up 480% in a year. It’s also PSA’s second most-altered card: real copies trimmed or recolored to look like they’ll grade higher.
The fakes logged in the Ungraded fake card database get almost everything a little wrong: the typeface, the copyright line, the holo, the colors, the alignment of the art, the back and the card stock. A real copy is textured across the whole card, has 330 HP with the attacks Brave Wing and Explosive Vortex, and credits miki kudo as the artist. If a raw copy is sold as “gem mint”, look at its edges for a bevel or an uneven cut, which suggests trimming, and for ink along the edges or patchy gloss.
Japanese Base Set Charizard No. 006 (1996)
The original Japanese Charizard is PSA’s fifth most-altered card, so trimming and recoloring are more of a worry than outright fakes. Known fakes get the font wrong, especially in the “006” and the Pokédex text, and the holo pattern doesn’t match. A real one has the old “Pocket Monsters” back and a bluish-grey core rather than a black one. The Japanese cards guide has more.
Real reprints sold as Base Set Charizard
The Base Set art has been officially reprinted four times. None of these are fakes, but all of them turn up in listings as “Base Set Charizard”.
| Reprint | Number | How to tell it from the 1999 card |
|---|---|---|
| Base Set 2 (2000) | 4/130 | A Poké Ball “2” set symbol to the right of the art; “cosmos” holo instead of starlight |
| Legendary Collection (2002) | 3/110 | Legendary Collection set symbol; the reverse holo has a fireworks pattern over the whole card |
| XY Evolutions (2016) | 11/108 | 150 HP and Fire Spin for 200 (Base Set is 120 HP and 100); modern layout |
| Celebrations Classic Collection (2021) | 4/102, the same as the original | 25th anniversary logo in the bottom right of the art; textured “confetti” holo; no Wizards of the Coast copyright |
Celebrations is the one to watch, because it reuses the original 4/102 number and a listing title can’t tell you which you’re getting. Ask for a photo of the bottom right corner of the art and of the copyright line.
Graded Charizards
Expensive Charizards are the main target for fake slabs. One Instagram seller documented on Elite Fourum was offering “PSA 10” 1st Edition Charizards for Bitcoin only, and both the cards and the slabs were fake. The Base Set tells above work through the plastic too, so check the shadow, the copyright line and the stamp before you look at the label. How to spot a fake PSA slab covers the case and label.
Buying a Charizard
Fake Charizards have been documented on eBay, TCGplayer, Mercari, Facebook Marketplace and Instagram. They’re also sold openly as “proxies” and “replicas” on Etsy and AliExpress, and those can be resold as real. For an expensive single, I’d buy somewhere that checks the card for you. On eBay, single cards selling for $200 or more go to PSA before they ship.
Buying from someone you’ve dealt with before isn’t a guarantee, either:
I bought this from a guy that I thought I could trust given ive bought from him before and was very happy. … but I got scammed, I will dig deeper into what I purchase next time for sure.
u/Wensliving on r/pkmntcgcollections, July 2024
PSA’s own advice is that a deal well below market value may point to an authenticity problem. This is roughly where I’d start asking questions, based on recent sales:
| Card | Typical raw price | Be suspicious under |
|---|---|---|
| Base Set 4/102, 1st Edition | ~$9,600 | ~$5,000, even heavily played |
| Base Set 4/102, Shadowless | ~$1,000 | ~$500 |
| Base Set 4/102, Unlimited | ~$460 | ~$230 |
| M Charizard EX 108/106 | ~$240 | ~$120 |
| M Charizard EX 69/106 | ~$90 | ~$45 |
| M Charizard EX 12/83 | ~$80 | ~$40 |
| Charizard ex 199/165 | ~$370 | ~$180 |
| Celebrations 4/102 (reprint) | ~$160 | Real, but anyone pricing it like a 1999 card is misrepresenting it |
Charizard FAQ
How do I know if my Charizard is 1st Edition?
It has a black “Edition 1” stamp just below the lower left corner of the art box, and no drop shadow on the art box. A stamp together with a drop shadow means it isn’t genuine.
What’s the difference between a Shadowless and an Unlimited Charizard?
Unlimited cards have a drop shadow along the right and bottom of the art box. Shadowless cards don’t, and their copyright line includes a “99” that Unlimited drops.
My Charizard says “1999-2000”. Is it fake?
No. It’s the late “4th print” of Base Set, or Base Set 2 if it’s numbered 4/130. It’s real, but it isn’t 1st Edition or Shadowless.
Is the Celebrations Charizard the original?
No. It’s a 2021 reprint that reuses the 4/102 number. Look for the 25th anniversary logo in the bottom right of the art and a textured “confetti” holo. It sells for around $100–160 raw.
Is the Evolutions Charizard the same as Base Set?
It has the same art, but it’s a different card: 11/108, with 150 HP and a 200-damage Fire Spin. The Base Set original has 120 HP and does 100.
Which Charizard cards are faked the most?
In PSA’s 2025 data: M Charizard EX from Flashfire (#108 and #69), the 1st Edition Base Set Charizard and M Charizard EX from Generations (#12). The 151 Charizard ex special illustration rare is growing fastest.