Lawrence Parsons discovered NGC 387 on 10 Dec 1873 with Lord Rosse's 72" and included it on the sketch that was made of the cluster (later labeled as GC 5149), along with offsets from NGC 383. The GC (5149) and NGC position matches PGC 3987.

400/500mm - 17.5" (9/19/87): extremely faint, round, almost stellar. Located 1.8' NNE of NGC 386 and 2.1' SE of NGC 383 in the NGC 383 group. Not 100% certain of its non-stellar appearance.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb