Nobody knows how many Base Set 2 Charizards were printed, because Wizards of the Coast never published a print quantity for Base Set 2 or for any card in it. What can be counted is the graded record: PSA, CGC and TAG have recorded at least 11,022 Base Set 2 Charizard 4/130 slabs between them, counting PSA’s own table as archived in May 2022 and CGC’s and TAG’s public reports read on October 6, 2026.
That total is a floor, and a loose one: PSA’s figure is more than four years old because its report now sits behind a sign-in, graders count slabs rather than unique cards, and raw copies are not counted at all. Wizards did describe the set, the packs and the pull odds in 2000, but never a card count.
As of October 6, 2026: CGC lists 4,147 Base Set 2 Charizards and TAG lists 350. PSA’s newest readable count is 6,525, with 59 in PSA 10, from its own table archived in May 2022. The highest PSA 10 sale found is $57,600, at Fanatics Collect on September 20, 2026.
How to tell a Base Set 2 Charizard from the 1999 card
Base Set 2 is a reprint set from 2000, not a printing of the 1999 Base Set. Wizards’ March 2000 release described cards from Base Set and Jungle, “including the highly sought-after Charizard and Blastoise cards”, that “make up this new set of 130 cards bearing the Base Set 2 symbol.” Asked in a February 2000 chat whether the new cards had any new features, Wizards said: “Outside of a new card number and the Base Set 2 expansion symbol, no.” Its compiled card FAQ put it the same way: “The art will be identical, there will be a base set 2-expansion symbol on them.”
Five checks separate the two cards:
- Card number. The Base Set 2 Charizard is 4/130. The 1999 Base Set Charizard is 4/102, and the 2002 Legendary Collection Charizard is 3/110. Wizards’ Base Set 2 checklist lists Charizard at number 4, one of 20 holo rares numbered 1 to 20.
- Set symbol. Base Set 2 cards carry an expansion symbol, which Wizards described as a number 2 with a Poke Ball on it. The 1999 Base Set Charizard has no set symbol.
- Holofoil. Wizards’ Base Set 2 FAQ told collectors the foil would look different: some cards were moving to what it called cosmo foil instead of the familiar starry foil, because “Wizards of the Coast is using a lot of different printers–and not all of them use the same foil pattern.” It added: “So, all of your Base Set 2 foils will use the same pattern.” CGC confirms the other side: every English Base Set card, it says, was made with the Galaxy Star holofoil pattern. A Base Set 2 Charizard has the newer cosmos foil; a 1999 Charizard has galaxy stars.
- No 1st Edition. 1st Edition is the 1999 Base Set’s first print, marked with a small Edition 1 stamp. Base Set 2 never had one. The February 2000 chat log records the whole exchange: “Will there be a 1st Edition of Base Set 2? No.” A stamped Charizard is always the 1999 card.
- One version only. Base Set 2 has a single Charizard. Wizards’ FAQ records it as: “Is there a non-holo Charizard card in base2? Nope, only a holo one.”
One card blurs the foil rule. The two-player starter for Base Set 2 came with a Machamp, and Wizards confirmed in a March 2000 chat: “Yes it is still a 1st edition Base set Machamp that comes in the Base Set 2 starter set.” CGC notes that “the Machamps included in the 2-Player CD-ROM Starter Kit actually had the cosmos holofoil pattern that was used on later sets.” No Charizard came in that starter.
Legendary Collection is the other reprint people mix up with this one. PSA’s magazine sums up the 2002 set: “This 110-card issue features reprints of the top cards from Base, Jungle, Fossil, and Team Rocket.” Its Charizard is number 3, not 4.
Because Base Set 2 is its own set with its own number, the guide to how many Base Set Charizards exist treats it as not a Base Set Charizard and leaves it out of the 1999 count. This page is its count. The rest of the set, with the other 19 holos, is in the Base Set 2 checklist of holos, rares, errors and promos.
What Wizards of the Coast said about Base Set 2
No print quantity, for this set or any other
Wizards never gave a print run for Base Set 2 or for its Charizard. A month before the set came out, a fan in its weekly help chat asked: “Does WOTC release print run statistics? If not, why not (You are a publicly held company now?)” Wizards answered: “Though we are a publicly held company, we are not obligated to release that sort of information.” The Base Set 2 release itself reported sales only in products: “Since its debut in January 1999, millions of copies of the game have been sold in North America.” A copy of the game is a box or a pack across every set, not a card. The same silence covers the 1999 set, and the evidence for that one is laid out in how many Base Set Charizards were printed.
Why Wizards made it, and when it arrived
Base Set 2 replaced the original set on the presses. In a January 2000 chat Wizards said: “Base Set and Jungle cards will be printed up until Base Set 2 comes out in the end of February. 90% of the cards from those two sets will be reprinted in Base Set 2.” Its early February answer gave the timing again: “Base Set 2 should be out the end of February, Rocket in Mid April. No 1st edition Base Set 2 cards, but Rocket 1st edition will be out the same time as unlimited.” Wizards announced the release on March 8, 2000.
The reason was supply for players. In an April 2000 chat Wizards said: “Since Base Set and Jungle are out of print, we wanted many of those cards to still be available for game play purposes and for new players just starting up.” Its FAQ said: “We wanted to re-release some of the most popular cards so that everyone would have a chance to get the cards they need to play the game and/or complete their sets.” Asked in the same April chat why the foil changed, Wizards said: “We ran out of the old foil material (used it up making zillions of cards for you guys).”
How long it was printed: not stated
No Wizards statement found gives the date Base Set 2 printing stopped. Asked in late April 2000 whether Fossil, Base Set 2 or Team Rocket would go out of print, Wizards said: “They should be but we don’t have specific dates yet.” Writing about Legendary Collection in 2018, PSA’s magazine reported a collector belief that it “was designed to be Base Set 3, but due to the lack of demand for Base Set 2 (a reprint issue released in 2000 that highlighted cards from Base and Jungle), WOTC gave it a new and more exciting name.” That is about demand, not a print figure.
What was sold, and the pull odds
- Boosters: “randomized 11-card booster packs (MSRP $3.29)”, according to the release.
- Starter and theme decks: a two-player Starter Set with an instructional CD-ROM at $14.99, or with a CD-ROM and video at $16.99, plus “four all-new preconstructed theme decks (MSRP $9.99 each)”.
- Holo odds: Wizards’ Base Set 2 booster page said: “Premium card odds approx. 1 : 33 cards.” Its card FAQ did the Charizard sum: “There are 20 foil rares in set; you have a 1 in 3 chance of a foil in a booster pack”, which Wizards put at approximately 1 in 60 packs for Charizard.
Those odds describe one pack, not how many packs were printed, so they cannot be turned into a Charizard count. Wizards stayed out of prices too: “We do not get involved in the valuation of the game cards.” Current set values are on the Base Set 2 prices page.
Numbers you will see online, and why they do not hold up
With no official figure, invented ones fill the gap. None of these has a source:
- A print run of five hundred million to two billion Base Set 2 cards, or four to eight million Charizards. No document from Wizards, Hasbro or a printer gives any such number. They are guesses presented as estimates.
- A Charizard pull rate of one in a hundred and two packs. Wizards’ own answer was approximately 1 in 60 packs, from 20 holo rares and about one holo in every three packs.
- A set of a hundred and two cards. That is the 1999 Base Set. Base Set 2 has 130 cards.
- Hundreds of thousands of graded copies. PSA’s own table showed 6,525 in May 2022, and CGC and TAG together hold fewer than five thousand today.
- A print run worked backwards from the population report and presented as fact. That needs the share of copies that were ever graded, and nobody knows it. Any such figure is an estimate resting on an assumed share and should say so, with the assumption shown. The last section below shows why the graded count is a floor, not a sample.
Base Set 2 Charizard population at PSA, CGC and TAG
PSA’s population report now requires a sign-in and its certificate pages sit behind a security check, so PSA’s newest readable figure is the grade table on its own Auction Prices Realized page for the card, as saved by the Wayback Machine in May 2022. PSA files the card as 2000 Pokemon Game Base II #4 Charizard-Holo. CGC’s Base Set 2 report and TAG’s are public and were read on October 6, 2026.
| Grader | Count date | Base Set 2 Charizards graded | Top grade | Next grades down |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | May 2022 (PSA’s own table, archived) | 6,525 | 59 PSA 10 | 918 PSA 9, 1,557 PSA 8 |
| CGC | October 6, 2026 | 4,147 | 3 Pristine 10, 83 Gem Mint 10 (no Perfect 10) | 23 at 9.5, 287 at 9, 587 at 8.5 |
| TAG | October 6, 2026 | 350 | 2 TAG 10 (no 10 Pristine) | 10 at 9, 16 at 8.5, 28 at 8 |
| All three | mixed dates | 11,022 | 147 at 10 (59 PSA, 86 CGC, 2 TAG) |
The PSA total adds the two lines in PSA’s table: 6,522 numerically graded copies, half grades included, and 3 authenticated without a grade. Adding the three graders gives 11,022 slabs, a sum that mixes a 2022 PSA count with 2026 counts at CGC and TAG. CGC’s 4,147 includes 40 copies it graded as Authentic Altered and 9 authenticated without a grade. CGC has graded 62,330 cards from the whole Base Set 2 set.
Charizard is the most-graded of the three starter holos. At CGC its 4,147 copies are about 1.6 times the Blastoise count:
| Base Set 2 holo | CGC (October 6, 2026) | TAG (October 6, 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Charizard 4/130 | 4,147 | 350 |
| Blastoise 2/130 | 2,564 | 189 |
| Venusaur 18/130 | 2,307 | 132 |
The 1999 Charizard’s numbers, print by print, are in the Base Set Charizard population report.
Grade distribution and gem rate
PSA’s table gives a count for every whole grade, which shows where most Base Set 2 Charizards land:
| PSA grade | Copies (May 2022) |
|---|---|
| PSA 10 Gem Mint | 59 |
| PSA 9 Mint | 918 |
| PSA 8 NM-MT | 1,557 |
| PSA 7 NM | 1,171 |
| PSA 6 EX-MT | 1,013 |
| PSA 5 EX | 806 |
| PSA 4 VG-EX | 408 |
| PSA 3 VG | 212 |
| PSA 2 Good | 132 |
| PSA 1.5 Fair | 6 |
| PSA 1 Poor | 149 |
| Authentic, no grade | 3 |
Half grades such as 8.5 have no row of their own but are inside PSA’s 6,522 numeric total. Dividing by the 6,525 total, PSA 10s were 0.9% of PSA’s Base Set 2 Charizards and PSA 9s were 14.1%. PSA 8 was the most common grade.
At CGC, adding the 3 Pristine 10s and 83 Gem Mint 10s gives 86 tens, or 2.1% of 4,147. Counting 9.5s and 9s as well gives 396 at 9 or better, 9.5% of the total, and the most common CGC grade is 8.5. At TAG, 2 of 350 reached a 10, or 0.6%. The three use different scales and dates, so each rate describes its own report only.
Base Set 2 Charizard sales on record
Fanatics Collect publishes a public sold-items history, which it says covers “sales across all markets on the Fanatics Collect platform.” Its PSA 10 Base Set 2 Charizard results, read on October 6, 2026, are below, with the buyer’s premium included. The PSA 9, CGC 9 and PSA 8 rows come from the same history across all grades and from a Goldin lot.
| Sold | Grade | Price | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 20, 2026 | PSA 10 | $57,600 | Fanatics Collect auction |
| August 23, 2026 | PSA 10 | $43,200 | Fanatics Collect auction |
| March 29, 2026 | PSA 10 | $32,400 | Fanatics Collect auction |
| November 16, 2025 | PSA 10 | $10,800 | Fanatics Collect auction |
| September 28, 2025 | PSA 10 | $16,200 | Fanatics Collect auction |
| September 2024 | PSA 10 | $6,300 | Fanatics Collect auction |
| August 25, 2024 | PSA 10 | $7,200 | Fanatics Collect auction |
| October 2022 | PSA 10 | $6,600 | Fanatics Collect auction |
| January 30, 2022 | PSA 10 | $9,000 | Fanatics Collect auction |
| June 27, 2021 | PSA 10 | $6,650 | Fanatics Collect auction |
| September 27, 2026 | PSA 9 | $2,750 | Fanatics Collect Buy Now |
| September 24, 2026 | CGC 9 | $1,099 | Fanatics Collect Buy Now |
| September 2023 | PSA 8 | $510 ($425 winning bid plus premium) | Goldin auction |
The $57,600 sale is the highest PSA 10 result in that history. It closed in Fanatics Collect’s Weekly Auction #244 after 72 bids, and the three 2026 sales are the three highest in the list. The August and September lot pages show different PSA certification numbers, so those are two different cards. This is one marketplace’s record; eBay, Goldin, Heritage and others sell the card too. Current values by grade, drawn from verified sold listings across eBay, TCGPlayer, Goldin, and Fanatics Collect, are on the Base Set 2 Charizard price history page.
Why the graded count is not how many exist
A population report counts grading events. PSA’s own help page says so: “Keep in mind, the pop isn’t 100% perfect. Plenty of collectors will crack out their cards to have them signed, resubmit, or sell raw, and, unless we get that label back, there’s no way for us to know that the population needs to be updated.” Four things pull the 11,022 figure away from the number of cards:
- Resubmissions. A card cracked out and graded again can be counted twice by the same company.
- Crossovers. A card moved from PSA to CGC, or the reverse, can sit in both reports, so adding graders double-counts some cards.
- Stale PSA data. PSA’s count stops in May 2022. Copies PSA has graded since then are in no number that can be read without a login.
- Raw copies. Base Set 2 Charizards still in binders, boxes and sealed packs are in no report, and nobody has counted them.
The first two push the slab count up; the last two hold it down. Neither effect can be measured, which is why this page gives the slab count with its dates and stops there. PSA’s last readable figure, 6,525 slabs in May 2022, is the newest PSA number for this card that anyone can cite.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Base Set 2 Charizards were printed?
Nobody outside Wizards of the Coast knows. Wizards never published a print quantity for Base Set 2 or its Charizard, and in January 2000 it said it was not obligated to release print-run information. The figure that can be counted is graded copies: 6,525 at PSA in its own table as archived in May 2022, and 4,147 at CGC and 350 at TAG on October 6, 2026.
How many PSA 10 Base Set 2 Charizards are there?
PSA’s own table showed 59 PSA 10s out of 6,525 graded in May 2022, the newest PSA figure that can be read without a PSA login. On October 6, 2026, CGC listed 3 Pristine 10s and 83 Gem Mint 10s, and TAG listed 2 TAG 10s.
Is there a 1st Edition Base Set 2 Charizard?
No. Wizards said in February 2000 that there would be no 1st Edition of Base Set 2. A Charizard with the 1st Edition stamp is the 1999 Base Set card, numbered 4/102.
How do I tell a Base Set 2 Charizard from a Base Set Charizard?
Look at the card number and the symbol. The Base Set 2 Charizard is numbered 4/130 and carries the Base Set 2 expansion symbol, a 2 with a Poke Ball. The 1999 Base Set Charizard is numbered 4/102 and has no set symbol. The Base Set 2 holo also uses the newer cosmos foil instead of the galaxy-star foil of the 1999 set.
What were the odds of pulling Charizard from a Base Set 2 pack?
Wizards said Base Set 2 had 20 holo rares and about a 1 in 3 chance of a holo in each booster, which put Charizard at approximately 1 in 60 packs. Its booster page gave premium card odds of about 1 in 33 cards.
What is the most a Base Set 2 Charizard has sold for?
The highest result found is $57,600 for a PSA 10 at Fanatics Collect on September 20, 2026, including the buyer’s premium. That is the top of Fanatics Collect’s own sold-items list; it is not a complete record of every marketplace.
Sources
- 2000 Pokemon Game Base II Charizard-Holo: prices and population by grade (Auction Prices Realized) — PSA, archived by the Internet Archive, Wayback Machine capture of May 19, 2022
- Base Set 2 – English Population Report — CGC Cards, read October 6, 2026
- 2000 WOTC Pokemon Base Set 2 Pop Report — TAG Grading, read October 6, 2026
- Sold Items: 2000 Pokemon Base Set 2 Holo Charizard #4 PSA 10 — Fanatics Collect, sales history read October 6, 2026
- 2000 Pokemon Base Set 2 Holo Charizard #4 PSA 10 GEM MINT (Weekly Auction #244) — Fanatics Collect, sold September 20, 2026
- Sold Items: 2000 Pokemon Base Set 2 Holo Charizard #4, all grades — Fanatics Collect, sales history read October 6, 2026
- 2000 Pokemon Base Set 2 Rare Holofoil #4 Charizard – PSA NM-MT 8 — Goldin, closed September 7, 2023
- Pokemon Trading Card Game Phenomenon Celebrates One-year Anniversary With Release of Base Set 2 — Business Wire (Wizards of the Coast release, via the Wayback Machine), March 8, 2000
- Frequently Asked Questions About Base Set 2 — Wizards of the Coast (wizards.com, via the Wayback Machine), updated March 27, 2000; Wayback Machine capture of May 10, 2000
- Pokemon Trading Card Game: Booster Packs (Base Set 2) — Wizards of the Coast (wizards.com, via the Wayback Machine), Wayback Machine capture of April 8, 2000
- Pokemon Base Set 2 Checklist — Wizards of the Coast (wizards.com, via the Wayback Machine), Wayback Machine capture of April 8, 2000
- Pokemon Cards FAQ (compiled Online Help answers) — Wizards of the Coast (wizards.com, via the Wayback Machine), 2000; Wayback Machine capture of August 18, 2000
- Pokemon Online Help chat log, January 20, 2000 — Wizards of the Coast Customer Service (wizards.com, via the Wayback Machine), chat of January 20, 2000
- Pokemon Online Help chat log, January 27, 2000 — Wizards of the Coast Customer Service (wizards.com, via the Wayback Machine), chat of January 27, 2000
- Pokemon Online Help chat log, February 3, 2000 — Wizards of the Coast Customer Service (wizards.com, via the Wayback Machine), chat of February 3, 2000
- Pokemon Online Help chat log, February 17, 2000 — Wizards of the Coast Customer Service (wizards.com, via the Wayback Machine), chat of February 17, 2000
- Pokemon Online Help chat log, March 23, 2000 — Wizards of the Coast Customer Service (wizards.com, via the Wayback Machine), chat of March 23, 2000
- Pokemon Online Help chat log, April 6, 2000 — Wizards of the Coast Customer Service (wizards.com, via the Wayback Machine), chat of April 6, 2000
- Pokemon Online Help chat log, April 27, 2000 — Wizards of the Coast Customer Service (wizards.com, via the Wayback Machine), chat of April 27, 2000
- CGC Trading Cards’ Favorite Pokemon Base Set Variants — CGC Trading Cards, undated article, read October 6, 2026
- PSA Set Registry: Collecting the 2002 Pokemon Legendary Collection Set — PSA (Kevin Glew), archived by the Internet Archive, June 26, 2018; Wayback Machine capture of September 15, 2022
- What is the POP Report and how do I use it? — PSA Knowledge Base, read October 6, 2026
Population figures are snapshots of each grading company’s public report on the date shown and change every week as new cards are graded. Print-run figures for the 1999 English Base Set were never published by Wizards of the Coast; anything described here as an estimate is labelled as one. This article is collector information, not investment advice. Pokémon and Charizard are trademarks of Nintendo, Creatures Inc. and GAME FREAK inc.; Pokemon Pricing is not affiliated with them or with any grading company.