1st Edition vs Shadowless vs Unlimited

Pokemon cards came out in English on January 9, 1999. Wizards of the Coast printed that first set, Base Set, more than once. The prints look almost the same. They don't sell for the same money.

Good news: you can tell them apart fast. You need the card, decent light, and three checks.

The ten second check

1. Look under the art box, on the left. A small black stamp with a 1 and the word EDITION means 1st Edition. You're done.
2. No stamp? Look at the right edge of the art box. A dark shadow running down the right side means Unlimited. A clean edge with no shadow means Shadowless.
3. Still not sure? Read the tiny line along the bottom of the front. "© 1995, 96, 98, 99" is a Shadowless or 1st Edition print. "© 1995, 96, 98", with no 99, is Unlimited.

That's it. The rest of this page shows each one on real cards from our shelf.

1st Edition: the stamp

The first print run, and the smallest. Every 1st Edition card carries the Edition 1 stamp: a little black circle with a 1 inside and EDITION wrapped around it.

On a Pokemon card it sits just under the bottom left corner of the art box. Energy cards have no art box, so the stamp moves up next to the word ENERGY. Our Base Set Lightning Energy shows it right there.

Every English 1st Edition Base Set card is also shadowless. So a stamped card with no shadow isn't odd. That's just the first print.

The stamp didn't stop with Base Set. Jungle had a 1st Edition run too, and our 1999 Jungle Pidgeot wears the same stamp in the same spot.

Shadowless: the in-between

After the 1st Edition run, Base Set kept printing without the stamp. The early copies still had no shadow behind the art box. Collectors call them Shadowless. Then the shadow showed up and stayed, and that's Unlimited.

Three ways to spot one:

• No shadow. The right edge of the art box is clean.
• A thinner HP number. Shadowless HP reads light and thin. Unlimited HP is bolder.
• The 99. The copyright line reads "© 1995, 96, 98, 99 Nintendo, Creatures, GAMEFREAK. © 1999 Wizards."

Put two copies side by side and the HP is the sneaky one. On our Shadowless Charmander the "50 HP" is thin and light. On our Unlimited Charmander it's heavier, and the shadow is plain to see.

Unlimited: the big run

Unlimited is the print most people opened. No stamp, a dark shadow down the right side of the art, a bolder HP number, and a copyright line that stops at 98: "© 1995, 96, 98 Nintendo, Creatures, GAMEFREAK. © 1999 Wizards."

Unlimited is not a lesser card, just a bigger print run. Our Base Set Charizard is an Unlimited copy. It's one of only 16 holo rares in the 102 card set.

Side by side

Easy mistakes

• Calling cards from other sets Shadowless. The name only means something on Base Set. Jungle and Fossil never had a Shadowless print. Our 1st Edition Jungle Pidgeot already has the shadow.
• Judging the shadow from a dark photo. A worn or dirty edge can pass for a shadow. Read the copyright line to settle it.
• Trusting the title. Shadowless cards get mislabeled in listings all the time. Check the card, not the words.