William Herschel probably discovered NGC 4864 = H II-388 = h1500 on 11 Apr 1785 (sweep 396) and recorded "Two, the time taken between them." His single position is 2.5' northwest of NGC 4874, which is certainly one of these two. John Herschel assigned WH's second object (H. II-388) to NGC 4869 in the GC and Dreyer followed suit in the NGC. Harold Corwin argues that NGC 4864 is a better match in position and probably visibility. See his identification notes.

John Herschel independently discovered this galaxy on 13 Apr 1831, and noted "The first of 5 south of a * 7m. Place by configuration with the others." His position is noted as very rough, but his sketch (emailed by Wolfgang Steinicke) verifies h1500 = NGC 4864. Heinrich d'Arrest first observed NGC 4864 on 10 May 1863 and measured the position on 3 nights. He marked the equivalence with h1500 as uncertain.

300/350mm - 13.1" (5/14/83): faint, very small, round, very close pair with NGC 4867.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/21/90): faint, very small, round. Forms a double system with NGC 4867 off the SE edge just 40" from center and IC 3955 is 2' NW. Located in the core of AGC 1656, 5.0' WNW of NGC 4874.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb