Kopp Glass Incorporated

Kopp Glass Company is located in Swissvale Pennsylvania is still in business today producing industrial lighting glassware. Nicholas Kopp, the founder of Kopp Glass, Inc. has been called the father of cased glass and he was the color man at Consolidated Lamp & Glass Company before he founded Kopp. In 1928 they introduced a line of glassware called "Modernistic" inspired by the Ruba Rombic line from Consolidated Glass Company – since Kopp had worked at Consolidated he had to be familiar with Reuben Haley’s designs for Ruba Rombic. Although their Modernistic line of glassware is collectible it will not command the same prices as the Ruba Rombic produced by Consolidated Glass Company.

Kopp produced vases (in 4 sizes) and a powder jar in their Modernistic line. You will sometimes find the raised KGI logo on the bottom of the Kopp vases.

These vases were produced in a limited set of colors: Crystal, Rose (pink), Ruby (true red - rare), Blue, Havana (brown), Emerald (green) and Ebony (black - rare). These vases are usually done in a shiny finish, but some with acid-washed to create a mat finish on the outside.

The Kopp powder jar is often confused with the Ruba Rombic powder jar. The Kopp powder jar is normally found in light green frosted or white frosted glass. The powder jar lid is round and the powder jar top where the lid goes on has a couple of grooves in the glass. The Ruba Rombic powder jar lid is very angular as opposed to round. Some unscrupulous dealers try to pass off the Kopp Modernistic powder jar as a Consolidated Ruba Rombic powder jar. The Kopp Modernistic powder jar is a $150 or so item while the Consolidated Ruba Rombic powder jar is an $800 to $1,200 item. Make sure you know what you are buying!!

The most desirable items in the Modernistic line are small or large vases in red glass (also made as small or large table lamps). Kopp also made their vases in black glass which is extremely rare (only one example of the large size vase has turned up). Kopp Modernistic vases are also occasionally found with silver electroplating of some of the panels – these are quite rare. The silver electroplating was probably done by another company, such as Rockwell Silver Company of Meriden, CT as Rockwell did silver electroplating of some Consolidated Glass Company items.

Kopp Modernistic Shapes

Here is a slide show that illustrates the various shapes in the Kopp Modernistic line of Art Deco glass.

Three Small Square Modernistic Vases

These are three seldom seen small-size Kopp Modernistic vases. The black glass example is quite rare.

Havana brown vase

This is a very nice example of a Kopp Modernistic base in Havana brown used as part of an Art Deco desk lamp.

Small Kopp Modernistic Lamp Base in Red

Red is a rare color in Kopp Modernistic glassware.

Large Red Kopp Modernistic Square Vase

This is a hard Kopp shape to locate and red in very hard to find.

Other Published Materials

Also see my article in Collector Weekly, Kopp Modernistic Glass.