EXCLUSIVE: The Only PSA 10 Burger King Pokémon Charizard Gold Card Has Emerged

27 years after it was part of an iconic promotion that millennial Pokémon fans remember to this day, the first 1999 Burger King Pokémon Charizard Gold Card to receive a PSA 10 Gem Mint grade has emerged. It is also the first Burger King Pokémon Gold Card of any kind in the six-card set to grade a PSA 10. While the Pokémon card market has cooled a little bit from the highs of the past several months/years, the potential value for a card like this could lead to a lot of interested parties chasing not only the next PSA 10 Charizard, but the first PSA 10 of the other cards in the set.

To recap, a little over a month ago, I wrote a short piece recapping the 1999 Burger King Pokémon Gold cards. Housed inside a Pokéball and a plastic case that did the corners and edges of the cards no favors, the 23-karat gold-plated cards were sold for $1.99 along with the purchase of a kid’s meal. These days, $1.99 won’t even get you a quarter of the way to the price of a single pack of the cheapest Pokémon set you can imagine. But in 1999, you were living like a (Burger) King with that kind of cash.

As is the case with any conversation about cards these days, the question of what these cards could go for in graded form had to be addressed. Based on recent sales data, PSA 9 examples of the Charizard Gold Card currently sell for around the $2,000 range. And at the time when I wrote that piece, no card had yet been graded PSA 10. The ease with which the card could be damaged or worn out or left with fingerprints means a PSA 10 might as well be a pipe dream.

A month later, I received an email from an anonymous Pokémon collector saying that they just received their Burger King Charizard Gold Card back and it got a PSA 10 grade. Funny how that works sometimes…

Lamuu, the Pokémon collector who is currently in possession of the card, wanted to share images of the card on the condition of anonymity, so identifiers on the card like the certification number have been blocked out to prevent scammers from claiming the card for themselves. According to Lamuu, the purpose of sharing images was to show fellow Pokémon collectors the first example of a PSA 10 Gem Mint from such a memorable set from everybody’s childhood. Here is a Q&A (edited for clarity and privacy) that I conducted with Lamuu about their experience of getting the card back from PSA and realizing what is now in their collection.

Interview with Lamuu

How did you acquire the card?

I purchased the card at a card show while it was still unopened. After acquiring it, I decided to submit it to PSA for grading. I personally submitted this card to PSA and became the first owner of this particular PSA 10-graded example.

Did you have a good feeling it would come back a PSA 10?

Honestly, I thought the card was in better condition than the previously graded examples I had seen. There were no noticeable scratches or areas where the gold finish had chipped or peeled away. Still, I was realistically expecting a PSA 9. Receiving a PSA 10 was something beyond my expectations!

How much did you examine the card before sending it to PSA?

I carefully inspected the entire front and back surfaces for scratches and other visible imperfections. I paid especially close attention to the edges and corners, checking for even the smallest signs of chipping or peeling in the gold finish. I wanted to make sure the card was in the best possible condition before submitting it.

Can you share what PSA said when they congratulated you?

When I contacted PSA Customer Care, their representative congratulated me on receiving the Gem Mint 10 grade and described it as an exciting milestone for any collector. They also explained that PSA does not officially confirm whether a particular example is the first ever to receive a specific grade.

Do you have any guesses on the potential value of the card?

Honestly, I have no idea! Without an actual sale to compare it with, it's difficult to estimate its value.

Do you have any intentions of selling it someday, or are you planning on keeping it?

Well... if Burger King themselves ever contact me and ask whether I'd consider selling it, maybe I'll have to think about it!

All jokes aside, I have no plans to sell it right now. I simply want to enjoy this incredible moment as a collector. As for what might happen 10 or 20 years from now, who knows?

What got you interested in Pokémon?

I grew up watching the Pokémon animated series as a child. Those childhood memories are a big reason why Pokémon still means so much to me today. Even after all these years, my love and excitement for Pokémon have never really faded.

How Much is the Card Worth?

So what could a nearly 30-year-old, relatively popular non-TCG Charizard card go for that has a population of 1?

Here are some prominent examples of non-TCG Pokémon cards with a PSA 10 grade.

• 2000 Topps Chrome Sparkle Parallel (Card Ladder Value for a PSA 10 is $73,180 with a population of 36)
• 1997 Topsun #6 Blue Back (Card Ladder Value for a PSA 10 is $56,664.17 with a population of 31)
• 1996 Bandai Cardass Prism Vending Machine (Card Ladder Value for a PSA 10 is $194,980 with a population of 113)

The throughline between those cards is that they all have way more than one PSA 10 copy. And then there’s this card:

• 1996 Pokémon Club Part 1 (PSA 9 sold for $294,021 at a Goldin Auction with a population of 1 and no PSA 10s)

I won’t proclaim myself an expert on Pokémon collectible pricing, but a few quick searches on eBay and Card Ladder and a quick skim through a few articles that have been written about oddball Pokémon cards leave me with one conclusion: the sky’s the limit. If Logan Paul and the rest of the card bros are still interested in Pokémon cards, all it takes is two parties who want it, and we could be looking at numbers we can’t even fathom. If the card were for sale, that is…

Juan Martinez

From video game journalism to veteran of the sneaker blog era to podcasting about well, everything, Juan is smiling through it all and can't believe this is his life. His current hot take is that people are really underrating the Psyduck trading card market. Email: juan@soleretriever.com Instagram | Twitter | Bluesky | Threads : @ezyville