A classic. And wow, a dollar!
I loved your story and I think your idea of making one might have some validity. When I met my husband, for example, I had earlier put up pictures of a man who looks just like him all over my apartment (it was a man in an ad). Also, like your situation, I didn't necessarily think I was looking for something or someone. At the time, I was perfectly happy "playing the field." I just liked the way the guy looked in the photo in the ad, so I kept clipping the ad every time it appeared and taping it to my walls, cabinets, etc. Not long after the pics went up, I met him.
And here we are, some 20-odd years later and he's sitting across from me in his matching computer chair right now, working at his business. :)
I've had an estate sale or garage sale manifestation with extremely hard to find items, somewhat like your dodecahedron paperweight.
One time I needed a particular type of metal grid. The engineer friend who was helping me with this project for which we needed the grids insisted we go to all the stores and we spent an exhausting day not finding what was needed. I kept insisting this was not the way to find this metal grid and she snapped, "Well you tell me what is" so I said "garage sale."
She laughed in my face. She said good luck with that one!
The next day I got up and got the newspaper and let my hand waver over the garage sale ads and it rested on this one ad. I headed to my car and a visual started coming in. It came in sort of like a scan. I could feel it materializing on top of black asphalt. I could sense the shape.
I drove to the garage sale address and there it was, just as I had "seen" it scan in in my mind's eye. I bought it for $3.
Of course it was fun for me to laugh in my friend's face. I phoned her and asked her to come over to the address instead of laughing at her over the phone.
OK, now you would think that would be the end of the story but there is more. About three years later I wanted a different car and specifically wanted an Accord with less than 60,000 miles on it. I looked up under car ads on the internet and on my first try found one and guess where it was? The very same address as the place where I got the grids. Oh and I'm still driving that car, too.
Cher
edited to add that my engineer friend is a fellow DU-er