Interesting that the Kulikovsky coat of arms has a crest which looks quite remarkably like the Prince of Wales's feathers. as I can't read Russian, does the article say anything about this?
Actually, it seems ostrich feather crests were rather run-of-the-mill for untitled Russian nobility. Only occassionally do you come across the idiosyncratic crests known from West European heraldry, most often among the Baltic nobility. Otherwise it's either ostrich feathers, sabre-wielding arms or, as an augmentation, the imperial eagle.
The Kulikovskys seem to share some aspects of their arms with (or borrowed it?) from the eponymous Polish family:
Kulikowski, which allegedly belongs to the "Drogomir" clan of arms.
These arms, a triskele, which is found in the Russian Kulikovskys' arms are of course the same as those of the Kingdom of Man!
I remember watching a TV show on french couture in the 80s when a reporter asked the very snooty baroness hostess what was the origin of her title. She perceptively stiffened before spitting out "Wussian!" The eye-rolling look on the reporter's face said it all : a crap title. It was just an hilarious classic moment.
LOL!
But a Russian baronial title is far from always "inferior" (in terms of antiquity) to a French baronial title, which usually dates from the First Empire, as very few ancien-régime baronial families failed to "(auto-)upgrade" to viscount or count. Most of the Russian baronial titles are of Baltic German provenance, often quite ancient. To be a Баронесса Буксгевден / Freiin von Buxhoeveden (of the family established in Latvia since the 13th century, even though the Russian recognition of the baronial title for all family members only dates from 1861) can be considered as quite something else than being the descendant of a mere Napoleonic Baron Lefebvre.
