Out of the blue(so to speak) a guy comes out of left field, with a proposal for a very good friend of mine. The person professes to be very knowledgeable about yo-yos… yo-yo values… yo-yo collections and how to turn yo-yos into money through internet sales. The person claims to have an active ‘Yo-yo museum’.
When I got a call asking if I could vouch for this person legitimately, my friend seems quite surprised then my response was, ‘I have never even heard that name come up in any yo-yo related conversation in the last 28 years.
My response to that reaction was simple> I said, ‘Because I have never heard of that person, only means it’s possible that I just don’t know everybody and not necessarily that the person is not real or legit.
That being understood, the possible deal that John Ray is proposing to my friend involves a Substantial amount of money.
So I suggested to hold on until I try to out if John Ray is a genuine person? Or just a fast talking player with the same level of honesty as a Used Car Salesman?
I personally haven’t a single cent at stake in this situation. But I don’t like friends getting burned in any transaction.
So…. If you personally know this guy. Or have a friend that knows him or has dealt with him or whatever, Let me know:
It’s the first time I’ve heard that name in these last 16 years that I’ve been involved in the world of yo-yoing. I hope someone can help you verify if that person exists and if their story is true.(Although I don’t know everyone in this world either)
I believe there was a Facebook post from Doc Lucky selling some prototype Playmaxx stuff on behalf of a man named John Ray—but I couldn’t find anything on whether or not the deal went sour or if he’s trustworthy.
If you’re desperate, you could try reaching out to Doc Lucky and see if he has any more information on him.
Have you seen them in the John-Ray configuration tho? Because that may solve our mystery.
Doc, surely the next step is that you sit down and vet this guy. If he goes “well my uncle was a world champion yoyoer” two sentences in, we know he don’t know his head from a hole in the ground. Be sure to record it.
Name doesn’t ring a bell, and searches didn’t really come up with anything unfortunately. Now, that’s certainly not to say that he couldn’t very well be a background collector or amassed said museum of throws. I’m sure there’s many many people out there like that, but for something monetarily substantial like you are talking about, would definitely do a little further vetting where possible. I think if he was on the up and up he would be understandable of that as well.
Just for the sake of letting AI try to tackle this mystery this thread is the only reference to a John ray in YoYo’s it could find lol. Admittedly chat gpt can’t search closed facebook groups and such so it’s limited to public info.
I don’t want to think about the carbon footprint of this post after having chat gpt dig lol
Yep blew through a bunch of deep think and dug through archives and way back machine. No reference’s. Very possible this individual is a private collector that’s just not online but there nothing to go off of other than the doc lucky post and this thread so I think the only option is good old talk to the guy. Maybe video call and get pictures and such. The usual vetting for a less known individual with a large transaction. Heck if it’s big enough a visit to the “museum” could be warranted
