Truman Safford discovered NGC 1211 = Sf 102 on 31 Oct 1867 with the 18.5" refractor at the Dearborn Observatory. Stephan independently discovered the galaxy on 27 Nov 1880, published it in list XI-8 and measured an accurate position. Stephan is credited with the discovery in the NGC, as Safford's discovery was not published until 1887, too late to be included in the NGC.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/7/89): moderately bright, fairly small, very faint outer halo, sharp concentration, round. Two mag 13 stars lie 2.1' ESE and 2.2' ENE oriented N-S with a separation of 1.1'.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb