The English Pokémon Base Set was printed three ways in 1999, and the same card from each printing is a different object to a collector. A Charizard is a Charizard, but which Charizard is the whole question. The good news is that you can tell the printings apart with your eyes, in order, in under a minute.
Start with the stamp
Look to the left of the card, just below the bottom corner of the artwork. A 1st Edition card carries a small black stamp there: a circle with a “1” in it and the word “Edition” arched above. If the stamp is present and the card is a Pokémon from the Base Set, you are holding the first print run.
No stamp means the card is either Shadowless or Unlimited, and the next check separates them.
Then look at the frame
Find the box that holds the artwork. On an Unlimited card that box casts a drop shadow along its right side and bottom edge, as if the picture were raised off the card. On a Shadowless card there is no shadow at all: the artwork frame sits flat against the yellow border.
Every 1st Edition Base Set Pokémon is also shadowless. Shadowless cards without the stamp came from the short print run that followed, before the design was revised for the far larger Unlimited run.
Confirm with the small print
Two more details back up what the frame tells you.
- The copyright line. At the bottom of the card, 1st Edition and Shadowless cards read “© 1995, 96, 98, 99 Nintendo, Creatures, GAMEFREAK. © 1999 Wizards.” Unlimited cards drop the second “99”: “© 1995, 96, 98 Nintendo…”.
- The type. On Shadowless cards the red “HP” figure and the attack text are set in a thinner face. Unlimited cards use a bolder one. The colours differ as well: Shadowless cards tend to look paler, Unlimited cards more saturated.
If the frame has no shadow, the copyright line has the extra “99” and the HP is thin, it is Shadowless. If any of those disagree with each other, look harder before paying a Shadowless price.
The one famous exception
The holographic Machamp came in the 2-Player Starter Set rather than in booster packs, and it carries a 1st Edition stamp in every printing. A stamped Machamp with a shadow on its frame is not an error and is not a first print in the sense collectors mean. For this one card, read the frame, not the stamp.
Check it is Base Set at all
The Base Set has no set symbol. Look at the right-hand side of the card, below the artwork: if there is a small symbol there, the card belongs to a later set. A “2” on a Poké Ball marks Base Set 2, the 2000 reprint that reuses much of the same artwork and is often mistaken for the original.
The number in the bottom right corner tells you which card it is within the set: 4/102 is the Charizard, for example, and the symbol beside it gives the rarity, a circle for common, a diamond for uncommon and a star for rare.
Why the printing matters so much
Print runs got larger each time. Fewer 1st Edition cards were made than Shadowless, and far fewer of either than Unlimited, and most of them were played with by children. So the same card climbs in price as you move back through the printings, and the gap widens with condition.
That is also why the printing is only half of the answer. A worn 1st Edition card and a clean one are not close in price, and the difference between a clean raw card and a high grade is its own subject. If you have not read it yet, raw or graded covers what a grade changes.
Checking your own card
Photograph the front straight on, with the stamp area and the bottom edge in frame, and the Worth app will name the card and give a range. If the photo does not settle which printing it is, it asks for a closer shot of the frame before it trusts the higher price. That is the right instinct for a buyer, too.