E.E. Barnard discovered IC 1804, along with IC 1802 and 1803, on 29 Oct 1888. His notebook sketch clearly identifies the trio, with IC 1804 (marked as "c") correspoinding to CGCG 483-068 = PGC 9512. He reported a poor position to Dreyer, but his offset from mag 10.4 star Tycho 1766:638:1 is accurate.

600/800mm - 24" (1/1/16): at 375x; fairly faint, fairly small, round, 24" diameter, small brighter nucleus, low surface brightness halo. Brighter of a pair with IC 1803 1.3' NW. CGCG 483-070 = PGC 9527 lies 6' NE and logged as faint, small, round, 18" diameter, very small brighter nucleus. Located 6' NE of IC 1803/1804 pair. A mag 13 star is 1.6' WSW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb