As a child, Mindy Papp never got to go to Disneyland. Instead, her family considered another tour through Winterthur, that magnificent Americana museum, a perfect holiday. The family’s reading material? “American Heritage,” of course.

Small wonder that Ms. Papp and her brother William developed a passion for the beautiful pieces of furniture and objects that adorn the rooms of Florian Papp, one of the most venerable and respected antiques dealerships in New York. Or that this third generation continues to build the firm so ably.

In 1900, their grandfather Florian Papp founded the eponymous firm. Trained as a cabinetmaker, Mr. Papp had arrived from his native Hungary some years earlier and had by necessity taken work in a cigar-box factory. Little by little, however, he turned his hand to restoration and eventually to dealing in antique furniture.

In due course, his son took over the business. It flourished, and ultimately moved to its current location at Madison Avenue and 75th Street. It was not until her father fell ill in the late 1970s that Ms. Papp joined the family trade.

In fact, she was lucky enough to work with her father during his last several years, absorbing much of his expertise and being tested by him constantly. This training, coupled with an uncanny ability to remember and mentally catalog pieces of furniture, may account for a good deal of Ms. Papp’s success.

What excites Ms. Papp is not the possibility of finding a great bargain at a flea market and marking it up. Instead, it is in resolving the puzzles presented by works not easily pigeonholed, and by following the historical trends and fashions as they moved back and forth between England and France, with an occasional diversion to the Netherlands or Russia.

The showroom today has a broader selection of items than during her father’s era. Traditionally, Florian Papp, like its competitors, dealt almost exclusively in fine English and Continental furniture produced before 1815.

Ms. Papp and her brother have added some pieces dating from the 19th century, raising a few tradition bound eyebrows. William Papp, who studied at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as well as at Syracuse, has a particular interest in Neoclassicism.

The gallery today even houses more than a dozen items attributable to the Art Deco era.

Where do all these antiques come from? According to Ms. Papp, “The opportunity to find great things in the United States has never been better.” Not only does the cheap dollar encourage buying in the U.S. The truth is that after decades of goods being shipped over from Europe, the U.S. has become the preferred “secret source.”

One of her best buys was a partners’ desk, which she bought from a prestigious jeweler on Madison Avenue.

Interestingly, as much as one third of the items on display have typically been sold before by Florian Papp. The shop is well known, and as buyers refine their collections, they tend to come back.

At the end of the day, says Ms. Papp, the owner of a fine piece is best rewarded intellectually. Certainly, judging from what’s in the shop, the visual satisfaction is pretty appealing, too.