NGC 6544 was observed for the first time by William Herschel in 1784,[2] who looked at it through his 18.4 inch reflector; he described it as a fairly bright and large object, circular and resolvable into stars; the New General Catalogue provides a similar description.

NGC 6544 is a globular cluster of medium density, estimated value of 5 on a scale between 1 and 12[clarification needed].

Its small angular size, equal to just under 4' for the main body volume and corresponding to just 3.2 parsecs, makes it also one of the smaller globular clusters known.

In 2021, a low-luminosity globular cluster, named VVV-CL160, was discovered with a similar location, metallicity, and trajectory.

[3] In 1999 a millisecond pulsar in a binary system was discovered within the cluster and cataloged as PSR J1807-2459.