For my recent birthday my wife gave me a beautiful silver inkwell, an antique made in England in 1901. Ink has dried in it, and I've been having trouble cleaning it so that I can use it. There's a residue that just won't come out completely. I've soaked a cleaning solution of 10% ammonia and 5% dish soap in aqueous solution in the inkwell overnight almost half a dozen times, and each time there's blue-black liquid that comes out the next morning with a little bit of sludge. There's less and less color and sludge each time, but I'd have to do it about a million times to get it completely clean. I tried soaking some acetone in it for a few hours, but that did next to nothing.

There seemed to be a layer of black ink, and below it a layer of blue ink, and then either blue-black, or it made its own blue-black. Can anyone suggest something that will clear out the residue of whatever the heck kind of ink is probably in there? Maybe dip pen ink from the 1920s or '30s?

And then, what kind of ink should I put in it? I know that dip pen ink is different from fountain pen ink, has a different surface tension. I have some sumi ink I'm thinking of using, or maybe walnut, but wondered if anyone had any other suggestions. It would be for drawing, writing, and calligraphy.

Thanks!

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