1999 Pokemon French Base Set 1st Edition Holo Charizard #4 CGC 10 PRISTINE

While the coastal city of Nice is considered the hottest place in France, the scientists who determined this clearly never came across a Charizard. The mighty dragon-like Pokémon breathes fire hot enough to melt glaciers, with its fire growing hotter as it gains more experience. In French, Charizard is known as “Dracaufeu,” which keeps with the standard portmanteau naming convention for Pokémon. “Feu” is French for “fire,” while “Dracau” is derived from the Latin draco, meaning “dragon.” Therefore, Charizard’s French name roughly translates to “fire dragon” or “dragon on fire,” which is admittedly a lot cooler than just putting the words “char” and “lizard” together. Yet Charizard’s English name—as well as its Japanese name, Lizardon—is more accurate, as Charizard is not a dragon despite its habit of breathing fire and looking exactly like a dragon. But this did not stop Charizard—or, in this case, Dracaufeu—from becoming the strongest Pokémon in the early TCG. Despite the difficulty of getting it into play (it is a Stage 2 evolution) and its high Energy cost in an era where every deck ran Energy Removal and Super Energy Removal, Charizard’s 100-damage Fire Spin (Danseflamme) allowed it to one-hit KO any Pokémon from the Base Set through Fossil. With its look and power as well as Charizard’s place in Pokémon history, this 1st Edition issue has become one of the most coveted cards out of the 1999 French Base Set release. Like its English counterpart, this card was incredibly prone to play and handling wear at the hands of young collectors, making high-grade examples exceedingly rare. This CGC 10 is undoubtedly one of the finest surviving examples of this iconic card, with its 9.5 Edges subgrade leaving it only 0.5 away from CGC’s elusive Perfect 10 grade. Charizard cards featuring Mitsuhiro Arita’s legendary artwork will always hold value, so even for collectors who do not speak French, this Dracaufeu promises to make a powerful addition to any Pokémon team.