Pristine Charizard Pokemon Card Discovered After Twenty Years
A Reddit user shared an unexpected discovery. Twenty years ago, they left a classic Pokemon card, a classic Charizard, securely in a book.
How much are your old Pokémon cards worth? One reddit user made an unexpected discovery, in some ways a gift from their former self. In a post titled “Idiot child me stashed this away inside a book. Found 20 years later” reddit user Radiantgreninja shared an image of a pristine Charizard card, the classic kind that has sold for outrageous amounts of money.
Reddit user discovers a pristine Charizard card he hid in a book twenty years ago
The Pokémon trading card game has continued to balloon in value since it took over the world in the late 90s. The Charizard cards released in those early years still remain the most sought-after of all, with one at the time of writing being offered on Ebay for $39,999.99. Cards like this have all kinds of ways to determine value. PSA, or Professional Sports Authenticator, is the most well-known and respected source for determining quality of trading cards. A rare grade of 10 from PSA means a card has the most pristine quality of all. Meanwhile, other things like if it is the first edition of the card, if it’s holographic, and other factors come into play as well.
Responses to Radiantgreninja’s post rebuked them calling their child self an idiot, with most of the top comments saying that this was an act of a “smart” or “genius” child. Unfortunately for the poster, it looks like their Charizard is from Base Set 2, based on the stylized “2” at the bottom right corner of the card art. Typically, cards from the Base Set are the most valuable. But according to TCGPlayer.com, if the card is still in good condition, it could go for as high as $250, which is a nice gift to yourself from twenty years ago. It’s almost like finding a wad of cash in an old pants pocket.
Not all Charizard cards have these kinds of value, for example, the ongoing collaboration between Pokémon and McDonalds includes the chance to draw a Charizard card from each Happy Meal. But this Charizard is selling for at most $0.40, according to TCGPlayer.com. That’s why holding onto this classic Charizard for twenty years was so significant. Everyone likes the classics.
