Charles Conlon Fakes, Baseball Magazine Stickers & A Brief Tutorial

[Forever Young]

Here is the before and after photo. The first is where I purchased the photo not knowing for sure if I could clean up(actually I assumed no). However, the paint was water soluble and I was able to easily remove. For the record, I did not trim but cropped out scan to show what it could look like. If I framed, this how I would frame out.
So... I am interested in what other peeps think about trimming and "cleaning up". To me, I justify removing stuff because I want to see original work of art and simply removing whAt was added later. Trimming to me is different as you are actually taking away from the original print. I am Weird...I know this Thoughts?
I wish I could find the original negative or a copy of this image anywhere as I would piece the upper corner of the copy when framed.

PS: either way, my watermark is prettier no doubt.. GOSPEL.