Nice designs, no doubt about that. Then again, they are pretty ... old. One of them is even 200 y/o ... in my opinion, design should reflect the times we live in, not imitate the looks of, say, the 19th century. Christian
The best American coin designs (as well as public architecture) have usually been classicist. Indirectly we'd be emulating designs way older than the 18th-19th centuries. Done well, that's a good thing.
What about a penguin? That would dove tail with a mini ice age as well. Black and white is pretty generic. And we don't even have to rate the rack.