Charizard ex SAR (Pokemon Card 151): price, English version, fakes

The Japanese 151 Charizard ex SAR (リザードンex, 201/165) had a TCGplayer market price of $388.35 raw on 26 October 2026, and PSA 10 copies sold on eBay for a median $530 from 17 to 25 October (PriceCharting). The English Special Illustration Rare 199/165 costs less raw ($294 TCGplayer, same day) but $1,299 in PSA 10. The gap is grading: 86% of graded Japanese copies are PSA 10, against 27.2% of English ones. Here is what collectors have paid as of October 2026, and what to check first.

What is the Japanese 151 Charizard ex, and why do people want it?

Charizard ex 201/165 is the SAR (Special Art Rare) print of Charizard ex in Pokemon Card 151 (ポケモンカード151, SV2a), the Japanese set released on 16 June 2023 that covers the original 151 Pokemon in Pokedex order. The card is credited to illustrator miki kudo on the official card page: a Stage 2 Fire Pokemon with 330 HP, Brave Wing (60+) and Explosive Vortex (330), weakness Water x2, retreat cost 2.

The same set prints Charizard ex three times: 006/165 as the regular ex, 185/165 as the SR, and 201/165 as the SAR. Only the SAR has the full-art illustration, and only the SAR carries the price below. Packs cost ¥290 (about $1.85 at ¥157 to the dollar, the rate used throughout) for 7 cards, which is why so many were opened and so many copies exist.

Why this card and not a newer Charizard? Three reasons show up in the data. It is the Japanese twin of the English 199/165, the most graded card in the English 151 set (75,463 PSA grades by 16 October 2025, Card Codex), so it has a built-in reference price. It grades well: 30,062 of 35,010 PSA submissions came back a 10 (86%) as of 16 October 2025. And it still trades every day: PriceCharting logged 30 PSA 10 sales in the nine days to 25 October 2026. If you want a 2026-set Charizard instead, read our guide to the Mega Charizard X ex SAR.

How much is the Japanese 151 Charizard worth?

Prices below are what buyers paid, not asking prices. PriceCharting blocks direct reading, so we took its eBay sold rows through a text proxy on 26 October 2026 and calculated the medians ourselves.

Two things stand out. First, a PSA 9 ($338.50) sells for less than a raw copy on TCGplayer ($388.35). Buyers treat a 9 on this card as proof it is not a 10, and the raw copy still carries the chance. Second, Japanese shops want as much as US sellers: Yuyu-tei’s ¥59,800 is about $381 before shipping. There is no Japan discount on this card; our are Pokemon cards cheaper in Japan? comparison found the same for Charizard ex from Ruler of the Black Flame and Mew ex from 151.

For context on the PSA 10 trend: PokeInvest’s $642.85 median covers an older sample and is flagged down 24%, while PriceCharting’s last nine days cluster between $466 and $590. Samurai Sword Tokyo, a shop that sells the card, listed a PSA 10 at ¥76,724 (about $498 at its ¥154 rate) on 29 September 2026. Single-card PSA 10 sales ran $466 to $590 in those nine days, with $530 the midpoint; expect it to move.

Japanese SAR 201/165 vs English SIR 199/165: which should you buy?

This is the cleanest Japanese-versus-English comparison in the modern game: same artwork, same card, printed 98 days apart (Japanese 16 June 2023, English 22 September 2023). Here is how they compared in October 2026.

The pattern is the one we describe across the hobby in Japanese vs English Pokemon cards, with one twist. Raw, the Japanese card is the more expensive one here, by $29 to $94 depending on the source. That is unusual for a chase card and reflects Japanese demand for a Charizard from a set sold at ¥290 a pack. Graded, the English card wins by 2.4 times, because an English PSA 10 is scarce (fewer than three in ten submissions) and a Japanese one is the normal outcome (almost nine in ten).

The population figures carry different dates. The Japanese count is from October 2025 because PSA’s and GemRate’s live pages block fetching; the English count is PokeInvest’s 2026 figure. In October 2025 the same GemRate table had the English card at 75,463 graded and 31% gems, so the English gem rate has fallen as more copies were submitted, and the Japanese population has almost certainly grown past 35,010.

Best for:

• Owning the artwork at the lowest total cost: the English 199/165 raw, $294 to $320 in October 2026, and no import step.
• Buying a PSA 10 slab: the Japanese 201/165, $530 against $1,299 for the same grade and artwork. The label says PSA 10 either way.
• Grading a raw copy yourself: the Japanese card, where 86% of submissions have come back a 10. Our grading guide prices the fee and the shipping.

How do you spot a fake Japanese 151 Charizard?

Start with what the data says. PSA’s 2025 Fraud Report names Charizard the most counterfeited subject in the hobby and Pokemon the most counterfeited category, with counterfeit Pokemon submissions up 125% year over year. The English Charizard ex 199/165 from 151 was the fourth fastest-growing counterfeit target (+480%) and the second most frequently altered card, meaning genuine copies doctored to look cleaner. The Pokemon Company issued its own notice before the Japanese set launched in June 2023: counterfeits and imitations of Pokemon Card 151 had already been confirmed on Japanese flea-market apps, along with weighed packs and seller-made random packs. No source breaks out fakes of the Japanese 201/165 by itself, and Ungraded’s fake-card database still lists only a genuine reference for it, so treat this card as exposed rather than targeted.

Check these against the official card page before you pay:

1. Number and credits. 201/165, HP 330, illustrator miki kudo, attacks Brave Wing (60+) and Explosive Vortex (330), weakness Water x2, retreat cost 2. A card numbered 185/165 or 006/165 is a genuine, cheaper Charizard ex from the same set, not a fake, so make sure the listing shows 201.
2. The back. A genuine Japanese back has a slightly darker yellow frame. Fakes print a brighter, paler yellow, a low-resolution Poke Ball and uneven letter spacing (Altema’s fake-card guide, updated June 2026).
3. Texture and feel. Ungraded’s checklist for this card flags wrong or missing texture. Altema adds that newer fakes do have relief, but the direction or pattern is wrong, and the paper feels slippery and thin next to a genuine card. Handle a known-genuine Japanese card in the other hand.
4. Print quality. Blurry edges on the kana, a wrong typeface or wrong letter spacing, misaligned or washed-out color and miscut borders are the generic tells for any fake of this card.
5. The slab, if graded. A genuine PSA case has “21” engraved bottom-left and “PSA” bottom-right on both faces. Look up the cert number on PSA’s site or app and compare the photos to the slab in front of you.
6. The listing. A price well below the $349 to $388 range above, a seller with few ratings, or the same card listed many times are the marketplace flags that Japanese price trackers warn about.

The full method, including the light test and when a rip test is justified, is in how to tell if Japanese Pokemon cards are fake.

Where do you buy the Japanese 151 Charizard, and what does delivery add?

In the US, TCGplayer and eBay both carry it in volume: TCGplayer had 25 sellers and 30 listings on 26 October 2026, and PriceCharting logged 30 raw eBay sales in five weeks. A US seller’s price has no customs step on top.

From Japan, shops such as Yuyu-tei and Cardrush list it at ¥59,800 (about $381), and proxies open Mercari JP and Yahoo Auctions to overseas buyers. Then delivery adds up. For one sleeved card to a US address, as of October 2026:

That is roughly $75 more than buying the same card on TCGplayer. For readers outside the US, swap the duty and clearance lines for your country’s; the card and EMS lines are the same. The import rules and carrier options are worked through in shipping from Japan to the US, the sellers and proxies in where to buy Japanese Pokemon cards.

Buying from Japan makes sense for this card when you want a graded copy from a shop that stands behind it, or a specific condition you can see in photos, not for the price. Samurai Sword Tokyo’s PSA 10 at ¥76,724 (about $498, 29 September 2026) landed close to US eBay prices before shipping.

What else is in Pokemon Card 151 worth knowing?

Pokemon Card 151 has 165 numbered cards plus 45 secrets, 210 in all; the English Scarlet & Violet 151 has 207. The SAR block runs 200 to 207: Venusaur ex, Charizard ex, Blastoise ex, Alakazam ex, Zapdos ex, Mew ex, Erika’s Invitation and Giovanni’s Charisma. Three UR cards follow at 208 to 210: Mew ex, Switch and Basic Psychic Energy. The set also prints Monster Ball mirror-foil variants of regular cards. Our rarity symbols guide explains SAR, SR, AR and UR, and Japanese sets and their English equivalents covers the 98-day lag.

Cards worth knowing beside the Charizard, with October 2026 eBay medians from PriceCharting:

• Mew ex SAR 205/165 (ミュウex): about $196 raw (30 sales, 13 September to 24 October 2026) and $400 in PSA 10 (26 sales, 1 to 25 October). The Pokemon the set counts up to, and the only one with SR, SAR and UR prints.
• Erika’s Invitation SAR 206/165: about $40 raw (30 sales, 6 September to 22 October 2026) and $103 in PSA 10 (30 sales, 24 August to 19 October). A trainer SAR now selling for about a tenth of the Charizard.
• Charizard ex 185/165 (SR) and 006/165: the two cheaper Charizard prints, often confused with the SAR in listings. Autocomplete shows people searching “japanese 151 charizard ex 185” and “006” for exactly this reason.

More guides: Japanese vs English Pokemon cards, grading Japanese Pokemon cards, how to buy Pokemon cards from Japan, the Pokemon hub, and how we research.