1st Edition stamp
The 1st Edition stamp, a 1 on a black circle with the word EDITION arched over it, marks a card from the first print run of an early English set, from Base Set in 1999 to Neo Destiny.
Easily confused with
How to read it
CGC, the card grading company, describes the symbol as the number 1 on a solid black circle with EDITION in capitals arching round the top. Its place depends on the kind of card: on Pokémon cards, on the left side halfway down; on Energy cards, top right; on Trainer cards, bottom left. Wargamer gives the same positions. Base Set was introduced in the US in 1999, and Wargamer counts the first ten expansions, from Base Set to Neo Destiny in 2002, as having 1st Edition print runs with the same logo. CGC names the one set of that period without them: Base Set 2, made up of reprints from Base Set and Jungle.
Also searched as: 1st edition pokemon card, first edition pokemon, first edition stamp pokemon, pokemon edition 1 symbol.
This page says what a marking on a Pokémon card means, from The Pokémon Company International’s rulebooks and announcements and published guides. Pokémon and its card markings belong to Nintendo, Creatures Inc., GAME FREAK inc. and The Pokémon Company; the drawings are simplified sketches, not the cards’ own artwork. It doesn’t authenticate, grade or value any card.
Japanese 1st Edition marks
CGC records that Japanese cards carried a different 1st Edition symbol on their first print runs, from the Pokémon VS set in 2001 to the 20th Anniversary set in 2016: a large 1 above the word EDITION in capitals between two horizontal lines, in the lower right corner of Pokémon and Trainer cards, and not on Energy cards.
Look-alikes
On Base Set, a card without the stamp is not a first edition, Wargamer writes. The second printing, called Shadowless, looks the same as the first apart from the missing stamp: neither has the drop shadow beside the picture window that later printings added. A book’s first edition statement is a different kind of mark, printed on the copyright page.
Read next
- Next in Pokémon card symbolsShadowlessShadowless is collectors’ name for the second print run of the English Base Set: cards without the 1st Edition stamp and without the drop shadow along the right of the picture window that later printings have.
- Two marks that say a copy is from a first print run: on a trading card and in a bookFirst edition statementWords such as “First Edition” or “First Printing” on the back of the title page are the publisher’s statement of edition. Publishers and collectors use “first edition” in different senses, so the words don’t settle which printing a copy is.
More pokémon card symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with circles or letters and numbers.
Sources
- How to Tell if a Pokémon Card is a First Edition (CGC), How to Tell if a Pokémon Card is a First Edition, CGC Cards news article 10262, CGC (Certified Guaranty Company), Identifying first editions of Pokémon Base Set cards; First editions beyond Base Set
- How to spot first edition Pokémon cards (Wargamer), Matt Bassil, “How to spot first edition Pokémon cards”, Wargamer, Wargamer, How to spot first edition Pokémon cards; First edition Pokémon cards from later sets
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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