Slate comments on the utter hideousness of the state quarters, with illustrations. They did seem like a good idea when they were announced. The commentary on Maryland’s quarter is particularly humorous:

State politicians in Maryland and Pennsylvania have so lost touch with their citizens that they actually put the state capitol building on their quarters. The Maryland coin is what quarters would look like if they were designed by a politburo: a government building, generic garlands, and a motto both dull and cryptic (“The Old Line State”). A trip to any Maryland souvenir store would show what capitalism would have picked for the quarter: crabs.