Hey guys! It’s been years since I have posted here, but I wanted to share an important journey (for me) that I’m currently doing.
I am working on completing the entire catalog of base set zard artwork. There is a ton of them, some I’m probably leaving off of my list, but I keep adding the ones I forgot about. I think I have basically all of them listed (besides error cards like black dot, thick stamp/thin and whatnot). I really wanted to document this for myself to go back and look back on. Also to encourage people who are working on sets, master sets, goals and whatever hunting you have going on!
I am skipping the jumbo cards as I do not like them. I believe there are two of them. I am also skipping non public release ones such as the Creatures 25th anniversary card. I’m on the fence about the Evo Foreign Staff ones, but I have them added as well
The catalog -
The Base Set Charizard is what made me fall in love with Pokemon. I never was able to pull one as a kid in 1999, but my mom did buy me one, and this is where the journey starts -
My first Charizard my mom bought me in 2000. I graded this in 2020
I stoppec collecting pokemon for a very long time. On lunch at work in 2020 I snagged these raw for very cheap and graded them -
Later that week I heard of XY Evolutions which was a base set remake. I grabbed both of these for pennies on the dollar and graded as well -
I still had the itch of never pulling a base set charizard as a kid. I wanted to pull my own. I bought 4 Kanto Power boxes and pulled 3 holo Zards. These are the 2 I have left after gifting one to a friend. One of my fav Pokemon days ever -
I took another break and got into Celebrations in late 2021… cuz you know… another Zard OG artwork. Got a UPC for the Gold and pulled the holo myself -
Slowly started to get more. These were aquired in 2022/23 -
My neighbor sold me another base set Zard for cheap and I snagged. The legendary collection right after in 2024 -
This is when I started to get serious. I went to my LCS in late 2024 and saw this sitting in the case. I couldnt believe what I was seeing. I bought it for $2500. I took a photo because I knew this was going to be something I’d never want to forget -
I graded the 1st edition. Now worth $7,000. I went to a card show and traded an Gengar for the Shadowless raw. Graded it. Then a week and a half ago I bought the 1st edition German -
(12/15/2025) 1st Edition Italian ready for grading. Hoping for a PSA 1 lol. Also an absolute GRAIL of mine. Evolutions Staff Prerelease. These are crazy rare and I’m happy to have finally gotten one
(12/16/2025) Got some really low pop cards in today. Both are under 200 graded by PSA for all grades. Absolutely love the Chinese Classic Collections. So beautiful in person
(12/24/2025) Got some BANGERS in today. The foreign Evolutions cards are a bit tough to find. Surprised only 72 of these French ones have been graded with PSA. Also, had to get the Arita signature on a card I needed for my set. Absolutely love it
(12/26/2025) HUGE day for me. 2 1st editions. I definitely have to slow down lol
(12/31/2025) Capping off the year with probably the most important mailday so far. Sniped the Korean 8.5 a day after an 8 sold for $4,000. I feel I got the 8.5 for half off, but who knows! Only 150 graded Korean 1st editions exist with PSA. This seems very high when we talk about the card next to it. A Spanish Evolutions Prerelease Staff. Only 4 exist with PSA in all grades. I’m speechless and so happy I was able to sell some of my PC to get these
Thanks so much for reading. I will be updating when new ones come
But I can understand if you skip them for now. The English STAFF version is already pretty hard to find (for a decent price), but the foreign STAFF versions I almost never see anymore these days, tbch.
