diff --git a/backend/__tests__/middleware/galleryImageRateLimitSkip.test.js b/backend/__tests__/middleware/galleryImageRateLimitSkip.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c7bab86c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/__tests__/middleware/galleryImageRateLimitSkip.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+/**
+ * A verified gallery viewer's own image fetches do not spend the anonymous
+ * per-IP budget (#1287).
+ *
+ * Since gallery tokens stopped earning the authenticated skip, a guest on a
+ * 546-photo grid ran out of the default 300 requests per 15 minutes
+ * mid-scroll; the rest of the tiles came back 429 and rendered blank, and the
+ * next refresh found the photo list limited too. Reproduced in iOS Safari
+ * against a seeded gallery: loading in bursts, then nothing, no error
+ * anywhere. The image routes are exempt for a token that verifies and names
+ * the gallery in the path; everything else stays on the budget.
+ */
+const jwt = require('jsonwebtoken');
+
+process.env.JWT_SECRET = 'gallery-image-skip-secret';
+
+jest.mock('../../src/database/db', () => ({ db: jest.fn(), withRetry: (fn) => fn() }));
+jest.mock('../../src/utils/logger', () => ({ error: jest.fn(), warn: jest.fn(), info: jest.fn(), debug: jest.fn() }));
+
+const { isOwnGalleryImageRequest, shouldSkipRateLimit } = require('../../src/services/rateLimitService');
+
+const iat = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) - 10;
+const galleryToken = (eventSlug) => jwt.sign({ type: 'gallery', eventId: 1, eventSlug, iat }, process.env.JWT_SECRET, { issuer: 'picpeak-auth' });
+const adminToken = () => jwt.sign({ type: 'admin', id: 1, iat }, process.env.JWT_SECRET, { issuer: 'picpeak-auth' });
+const req = (path, token, method = 'GET') => ({
+  path, method, cookies: {}, headers: token ? { authorization: `Bearer ${token}` } : {},
+});
+const config = { enabled: true, skipAuthenticated: true, publicEndpointsOnly: false };
+
+describe('a gallery viewer fetching its own images', () => {
+  it.each(['thumbnail', 'preview', 'hero', 'photo'])('skips the budget on /%s', (route) => {
+    const r = req(`/api/gallery/wedding-2026/${route}/42`, galleryToken('wedding-2026'));
+    expect(isOwnGalleryImageRequest(r)).toBe(true);
+    expect(shouldSkipRateLimit(r, config)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('also reads the per-slug gallery cookie, as the browser sends it', () => {
+    const r = { path: '/api/gallery/wedding-2026/thumbnail/42', method: 'GET', headers: {},
+      cookies: { 'gallery_token_wedding-2026': galleryToken('wedding-2026') } };
+    expect(isOwnGalleryImageRequest(r)).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('everything else stays on the budget', () => {
+  it('the photo list, downloads and feedback', () => {
+    const token = galleryToken('wedding-2026');
+    for (const path of ['/api/gallery/wedding-2026/photos', '/api/gallery/wedding-2026/download/42',
+      '/api/gallery/wedding-2026/download-all', '/api/gallery/wedding-2026/info', '/api/gallery/wedding-2026/feedback/42']) {
+      expect(isOwnGalleryImageRequest(req(path, token))).toBe(false);
+      expect(shouldSkipRateLimit(req(path, token), config)).toBe(false);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('a token minted for a different gallery', () => {
+    const r = req('/api/gallery/wedding-2026/thumbnail/42', galleryToken('other-gallery'));
+    expect(isOwnGalleryImageRequest(r)).toBe(false);
+    expect(shouldSkipRateLimit(r, config)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('no token, a garbage token, a token under another secret, a token without a slug', () => {
+    const path = '/api/gallery/wedding-2026/thumbnail/42';
+    const foreign = jwt.sign({ type: 'gallery', eventSlug: 'wedding-2026', iat }, 'someone-elses-secret');
+    const slugless = jwt.sign({ type: 'gallery', eventId: 1, iat }, process.env.JWT_SECRET);
+    for (const token of [undefined, 'not-a-jwt', foreign, slugless]) {
+      expect(isOwnGalleryImageRequest(req(path, token))).toBe(false);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('a non-GET on an image path', () => {
+    expect(isOwnGalleryImageRequest(req('/api/gallery/wedding-2026/photo/42', galleryToken('wedding-2026'), 'DELETE'))).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('an admin token still skips everywhere, and is not what this checks', () => {
+    const r = req('/api/gallery/wedding-2026/thumbnail/42', adminToken());
+    expect(isOwnGalleryImageRequest(r)).toBe(false);
+    expect(shouldSkipRateLimit(r, config)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('the operator switch skip_authenticated=false counts guests too', () => {
+    const r = req('/api/gallery/wedding-2026/thumbnail/42', galleryToken('wedding-2026'));
+    expect(shouldSkipRateLimit(r, { ...config, skipAuthenticated: false })).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/backend/src/services/rateLimitService.js b/backend/src/services/rateLimitService.js
index 4a3def69..e00472bd 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/rateLimitService.js
+++ b/backend/src/services/rateLimitService.js
@@ -118,6 +118,8 @@ function isAuthenticated(req) {
     // Only an admin session earns the skip. A gallery token is minted for
     // free on password-less galleries and slideshow links, so treating it as
     // "authenticated" handed anyone an unlimited budget on every /api route.
+    // The one thing a gallery token does buy is its own gallery's images —
+    // see isOwnGalleryImageRequest below.
     if (decoded.type !== 'admin') {
       return false;
     }
@@ -130,6 +132,46 @@ function isAuthenticated(req) {
   }
 }
 
+// The routes a gallery viewer fetches once per tile: thumbnail, preview,
+// hero, photo. Downloads, the photo list, feedback and everything else stay
+// on the budget.
+const GALLERY_IMAGE_RE = /^\/api\/gallery\/([^/]+)\/(thumbnail|preview|hero|photo)\/[^/]+$/i;
+
+/**
+ * A verified gallery viewer fetching that gallery's own images (#1287).
+ *
+ * Since gallery tokens stopped earning the authenticated skip, every guest
+ * has been spending the anonymous per-IP budget — 300 requests per 15
+ * minutes by default — on the gallery's thumbnails. A 546-photo grid runs
+ * out of budget mid-scroll: the remaining tiles come back 429, which the
+ * frontend rendered as blank tiles with no error, and the next refresh
+ * finds the photo list rate-limited too. A per-IP limit that one legitimate
+ * viewer exhausts on one gallery protects nothing.
+ *
+ * So a token that verifies AND names the gallery in the path is exempt on
+ * the image routes only. The token proves the viewer passed whatever gate
+ * the gallery has (the gate itself is still limited), the slug check stops a
+ * token for one gallery buying images from another, and GET-only keeps every
+ * write on the budget. The bandwidth these routes cost was never something a
+ * 300-request budget bounded — a viewer can refetch a cached thumbnail 300
+ * times too — so nothing is given up here that the budget actually held.
+ */
+function isOwnGalleryImageRequest(req) {
+  if (req.method && req.method !== 'GET') return false;
+  const match = (req.path || '').match(GALLERY_IMAGE_RE);
+  if (!match) return false;
+  const slug = match[1];
+  try {
+    const token = getGalleryTokenFromRequest(req, slug);
+    if (!token) return false;
+    const decoded = jwt.verify(token, process.env.JWT_SECRET);
+    return Boolean(decoded) && typeof decoded === 'object'
+      && decoded.type === 'gallery' && decoded.eventSlug === slug;
+  } catch (error) {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Determine if rate limiting should be applied to this request
  */
@@ -145,8 +187,10 @@ function shouldSkipRateLimit(req, config) {
     return false;
   }
 
-  // Check if we should skip authenticated requests
-  if (config.skipAuthenticated && isAuthenticated(req)) {
+  // Check if we should skip authenticated requests. A gallery viewer's own
+  // image fetches ride on the same switch: an operator who turns the skip
+  // off gets every request counted, guests included.
+  if (config.skipAuthenticated && (isAuthenticated(req) || isOwnGalleryImageRequest(req))) {
     return true;
   }
 
@@ -292,5 +336,6 @@ module.exports = {
   createRateLimiter,
   createAuthRateLimiter,
   isAuthenticated,
+  isOwnGalleryImageRequest,
   shouldSkipRateLimit
 };