Lead does not break down over time and so ... Those easiest to identify hang from a support line with cable rings or wires. The second type has a “single-strand appearance” and no rings ...

IN a paper entitled “Eddy Current Losses in Single-Conductor Paper-Insulated Lead-Covered Un-armoured Cables of a Single-Phase System“(J. Inst. Elec. Eng., 89, Pt. 2, No. 12 ; December 1942), Dr.