I have been testing several vintage's of Crane's 90lb cover lately including a batch just gotten from Cranes direct that has the black speck plague. On the advice of a friend who said he just got a good batch from Photographer's Formulary I called them and they have just changed suppliers in December and according to them there is no black speck problem. I got some to test and it worked very well, no black spots at all and no tendency to mottle. It coated well printed well and looks beautiful. Looking at a light source through the paper you can see that the cotton fibers are very fine and laid smoothly.. as opposed to some older batches that looked clumpy like cottage cheese. So I just ordered 50 full sheets and they have a few hundred more on hand and their new supplier was confident the quality would be maintained in the future. So if you are one of the people who wish they could get that paper again it might be worth a try.
Dennis
Dennis