Sherburne Burnham discovered IC 1455 on 23 Sep 1891 with the 36-inch Lick refractor. While searching for NGC 7403 he commented there was nothing at Coolidge's place but he found "a moderately bright nebula, which is probably the object in question."

Spitaler found it again just two weeks later on 6 Oct with the 27-inch refractor at Vienna University Observatory. Spitaler reported, "Faint, round nebula of 1/4' - 1/2' diameter, brighter middle, forming a right-angled triangle with two stars mag 11 with the nebula at the right angle. Between the nebula and the preceding star 11 there is a star 12 closer to the star than to the nebula. I do not see the nebula NGC 7403. It's curious that Coolidge did not notice my nova; or is NGC 7403 identical to the Nova?" But Coolidge's object is probably a single star, like all his other reported discoveries.

600/800mm - 24" (9/6/18): at 375x; moderately bright, fairly small, round, 25" diameter, moderate surface brightness, contains a small brighter nucleus. A mag 14 star 1.2' SW and a mag 12 star 1.9' SW are collinear with the galaxy. Located 27' NE of NGC 7396, which is the brightest in a group of galaxies including NGCs 7397, 7398, 7401 and 7402. Also situated 26' NW of mag 6.1 HD 216701 (1 Piscium).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb