🏛 The Midland Auction Mart, Market Street, Leicester Most people walk straight past this building without ever looking up. But if you do, you’ll spot the words “MIDLAND AUCTION MART 1876” carved proudly into the stone. Built in the late 1800s, this place was once buzzing with traders and buyers from all over Leicester — a proper hub of city life. It was a place where deals were made, fortunes were won and lost, and the city’s business heartbeat could be felt through the walls. Over the decades,

It’s 1994. The world’s richest man walks into an auction. He isn't bidding on a yacht or a private island. He’s bidding on 72 pages of handwritten notes from the 1500s. When the hammer fell, Bill Gates had spent $30.8 Million. He had just bought the only Da Vinci manuscript in private hands. The art world was terrified. They thought the "Software King" would hide the treasure away. They thought it would disappear into a billionaire’s basement forever. But Gates understood something they didn't.

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