To be fair about it Canadian coins for circulation have been a lot more interesting than
US coins for a while. Canada has done interesting commemorative designs on quarters since 1992 when they did the provinces. Where do you think the US got the idea for from the
State Quarters? They do special quarters a lot now, including special sets they did for the Millennium and of course the Vancouver Olympics which were quite beautiful.
Personally I think a lot of the recent US coin designs have sucked. The US $1 presidential coins are plain ugly and look like something in a kids play coin collection. Same for Sacagawea and what about the god awful design for Susan B Anthony. What they did with the nickel series was just strange, first change the reverse then the obverse & reverse, then new obverse old reverse (thank Stupid politicians for that). What a mess! Yes give me the old classic coin designs (Mercury,Morgan, Walking Liberty etc) and I think that said something about American culture.