Alphonse Borrelly found NGC 3853 around 1871 with a 7.2-inch comet-seeker at the Marseille Observatory. His description reads "R, lE, small ncl at center" and his micrometric position in AN 1885 (4th object) matches UGC 6712.

WH probably discovered this galaxy on 30 Dec 1783 (sweep 72) and logged "Some minutes after 32, I saw a small nebula, but in looking a good while at the finder to determine its place, lost is again. I suspect partly that is consists of a few vS stars, but shall look for it another night." Although he was completely uncertain on the minute of RA, his polar distance is an exact match with NGC 3853.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/29/89): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated NW-SE, halo increases to a small bright core.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb