First Edition Charizard Pokemon Card Sells for Over $300,000

Another first edition Charizard card has sold for big bucks online. Earlier this week, a graded Charizard card sold on eBay for $311,800. The card received a 10 Gem Mint rating from PSA, meaning that it was in “virtually perfect” condition, a remarkable feat considering the age of the card. Of the 2,600 First Edition Shadowless Charizard cards submitted to PSA for grading, only 122 ever received a PSA 10 Gem Mint rating. No other information was provided by the buyer or the seller of the new Charizard card, so we don’t know if this was a celebrity pick up, or if the card has wound up in the hands of a longtime collector.

While the price of Charizard cards have increased dramatically over the last year, this latest card actually represents a small dip in value. Two similarly graded Charizard cards both sold for over $350,000 late last year, so we may have finally reached a plateau of sorts in the Pokemon trading card craze. Vintage Pokemon cards have become a hot commodity during the pandemic, with celebrities like Logic and Logan Paul driving up the value in early Base Set cards.

Even new Pokemon cards have become a hot commodity, the result of increased demand due and supply line shortages caused by the pandemic. The Pokemon Company even commented on the card shortages, stating that they would be increasing print runs and re-printing old lines to help satisfy demand.

The latest Pokemon card set, Battle Styles, introduces a new Battle Style mechanics that adds synergies to decks built around one of two different styles. Several Pokemon cards are designated as either a “Rapid Strike” style or a “Single Strike” style, and many cards have extra abilities to either find or power up cards with the same style.