A distelfink is a stylized goldfinch, probably based on the European variety. It frequently appears in Pennsylvania Dutch folk art. It represents happiness and good fortune and the Pennsylvania German people, and is a common theme in hex signs and in fraktur. The word distelfink (literally 'thistle-finch') is (besides Stieglitz) the German name for the European goldfinch. In popular culture In the story "The Sign of the Triple Distelfink", the American cartoonist Don Rosa used a triple distelfink hex sign as the origin for Gladstone Gander's remarkable luck. Notes External links Example of a distelfink American art Visual motifs