Why the printing matters
Take one Charizard 4/102. The artwork, the attack and the number are the same in all three printings. The printing is not, and neither is the price: the first two print runs were small, and far more of the third were printed.
That is why a scanner that only names the card has not told you what it is worth. When a photo fits more than one printing, GrailFox shows the candidates and asks you to confirm the one in your hand.
Which printing is it?
-
Base Set — 1st Edition
Charizard · 4/102
$11,450
-
Base Set — Shadowless
Charizard · 4/102
$1,760
-
Base Set — Unlimited
Charizard · 4/102
$412
Shadowless printings have no drop shadow on the art box.
Confirm this printing
The three printings at a glance
Charizard 4/102's three printings, in the order they were printed. The marks, not the prices: condition and demand set the price of any one card.
| Mark | 1st Edition | Shadowless | Unlimited print |
|---|---|---|---|
| Print run | First | Second | Third |
| 1st Edition stamp below the artwork | Yes | No | No |
| Drop shadow on the art box | No | No | Yes |
| HP and attack text | Thinner | Thinner | Thicker |
Shadowless is the 1st Edition layout with the stamp taken off. The Unlimited print added the shadow and the heavier type.
Check the art box first
The shadow is the quickest mark to check, because it is the biggest. On the Unlimited print a dark drop shadow runs along the right-hand side of the art box, the frame around Charizard's picture. On a Shadowless or a 1st Edition Charizard the box has no shadow at all.
Then look at the HP in the top right corner. It is set in heavier type on the Unlimited print and in thinner type on the other two. The three photographs below are real cards, one of each printing.
-
1st Edition
- The 1st Edition stamp
- No drop shadow
- Thinner HP text
-
Shadowless
- No stamp
- No drop shadow
- Thinner HP text
-
Unlimited print
- No stamp
- A drop shadow along the right
- Thicker HP text
Then the edition stamp
No shadow means Shadowless or 1st Edition, and the stamp decides which. Look just below the picture. A 1st Edition card carries a small black stamp there, a large 1 with the word Edition — in the photograph, on the left, next to the line that begins Flame Pokémon. A Shadowless card has nothing in that spot.
So on Charizard 4/102 the two checks settle it: a stamp and no shadow is 1st Edition; no stamp and no shadow is Shadowless; no stamp and a shadow is the Unlimited print. Not every Base Set card follows that pattern: the 1st Edition Machamp 8/102, from the 2-Player Starter Set, was printed both without the shadow and with it.
Base Set 2 and later reprints
Charizard was printed again in Base Set 2, a set numbered out of 130, so its number there is different.
- Base Set
- 4/102
- Base Set 2
- 4/130
A later reprint can keep the original number, though. The Celebrations Classic Collection of 2021 and the 30th Celebration Classic Collection of 2026 both reprint this Charizard as 4/102, so the number on its own does not make a card Base Set.
