?douard Stephan discovered NGC 1657 = St XI-34 (along with NGC 1654 and NGC 1661) on 21 Dec 1881 with the 31" reflector at the Marseille Observatory. His position is accurate.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/23/93): very faint, fairly small, round, low almost even surface brightness. Located midway between NGC 1654 4.6' W and mag 9.0 SAO 131483 5.1' E.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb