Thread: Should I polyurethane this label?

I recently acquired this "Celebrated German Water Hone".

After using it once, I noticed that the label got wet, and I'm thinking that I'm going to end up destroying it with continued use.

Should I apply some polyurethane to it or is that some kind of hone-purist's worst nightmare? Resale value isn't an issue as I plan to keep it. But on the other hand, I don't want to commit the equivalent of "refinishing" an 18th Century Highboy...