Heinrich d'Arrest discovered NGC 4872 on 21 Apr 1865. In his description of NGC 4874, he mentioned finding another nebula 45" to the south and preceding, which matches the offset to CGCG 160-230 = PGC 44624. On 5 May 1864 he recorded an object 3 sec of RA following NGC 4874 and 0.3' north (measured the same night) but there is nothing at this offset, although Dreyer may have assumed this referred to NGC 4872.

Dreyer equated William Herschel's H. II-389 and John Herschel's h1502 with NGC 4872, but these two designations apply to much brighter NGC 4874. Hermann Kobold independently discovered NGC 4872 in 1895 while measuring positions in the cluster with the 18-inch Merz refractor at Strasbourg. He labeled it Kobold 9 (his 9th "nova").

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/21/90): this is the closest companion of NGC 4874 just off the SW edge of NGC 4874 in the core of AGC 1656. Very faint, very small, irregularly round, small bright core. A mag 12 star lies 1.3' SW. Located just 52" SW of the center of NGC 4874. A swarm of galaxies in the field with NGC 4871 1.1' NW, NGC 4873 2.2' N and NGC 4875 2.5' SSE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb