East German vs. Wehrmacht Shoulderboards- how do you tell?

[Matt L]

Does anyone have any good ways to differentiate authentic Wehrmacht shoulderboards from modern East German ones? I've never handled an East German one myself, but from the images I've seen, they're fairly similar structurally. Is there any tried and true method of telling one from the other? Something like- Wehrmacht ones NEVER had 'x', or they ALWAYS had 'y'...

Matt

[Rick Research]

I don't know about OLD DDR ones, but recent enlisted straps do not have any "keyhole" button hole, only a round hole for the Soviet style tie on buttons. The piping is much wider. the colors are not the same since the tunics were a different shade.

Officers boards spookily resemble Bad Old Nazi ones, but the quality is just awful. Since they adopted the Soviet style of all-ranks have (instead of stars) pips, unless a board was unissued, it will ALWAYS have pips in it (An "Oberleutnant" looking board is actually a Junior Lieutenant, an "Oberstleutnant" looking board with one pip was actually a Major, etc-- captains and colonels each had FOUR pips). East German pips look superficially like old Wehrmacht ones, but always seem to be on skinny wire prongs, not the older flat pronged types.