diff --git a/app/controllers/items_controller.rb b/app/controllers/items_controller.rb
index e6b7580f..eed7fe03 100644
--- a/app/controllers/items_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/items_controller.rb
@@ -122,13 +122,28 @@ class ItemsController < ApplicationController
       return
     end
 
+    # Group the items by category!
     @nc_mall_items = @items.select(&:currently_in_mall?)
     @other_nc_items = @items.select(&:nc?).reject(&:currently_in_mall?)
     @np_items = @items.select(&:np?)
     @pb_items = @items.select(&:pb?)
+
+    # Also, PB items have some special handling: we group them by color, then
+    # load example pet types for the colors that don't have paint brushes.
     @pb_items_by_color = @pb_items.group_by(&:pb_color).
       sort_by { |color, items| color.name }.to_h
 
+    colors_without_thumbnails =
+      @pb_items_by_color.keys.reject(&:pb_item_thumbnail_url?)
+
+    @pb_color_pet_types = colors_without_thumbnails.map do |color|
+      # Infer the ideal species from the first item we can, then try to find a
+      # matching pet type to use as the thumbnail, if needed.
+      species = @pb_items_by_color[color].map(&:pb_species).select(&:present?)
+        .first
+      [color, color.example_pet_type(preferred_species: species)]
+    end.to_h
+
     render layout: "application"
   end
 
diff --git a/app/helpers/items_helper.rb b/app/helpers/items_helper.rb
index ad0d42b2..19f9e47a 100644
--- a/app/helpers/items_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/items_helper.rb
@@ -2,23 +2,34 @@ require "addressable/template"
 
 module ItemsHelper
   module PetTypeImage
-    Format = 'https://pets.neopets.com/cp/%s/%i/%i.png'
+    Template = Addressable::Template.new(
+      "https://pets.neopets.com/cp/{hash}/{emotion}/{size}.png"
+    )
 
     Emotions = {
-      :happy => 1,
-      :sad => 2,
-      :angry => 3,
-      :ill => 4
+      happy: 1,
+      sad: 2,
+      angry: 3,
+      ill: 4,
     }
 
     Sizes = {
-      :face => 1,
-      :thumb => 2,
-      :zoom => 3,
-      :full => 4
+      face: 1,
+      thumb: 2,
+      zoom: 3,
+      full: 4,
+      face_2x: 6,
     }
   end
 
+  def pet_type_image_url(pet_type, emotion: :happy, size: :face)
+    PetTypeImage::Template.expand(
+      hash: pet_type.basic_image_hash || pet_type.image_hash,
+      emotion: PetTypeImage::Emotions[emotion],
+      size: PetTypeImage::Sizes[size],
+    ).to_s
+  end
+
   def standard_species_search_links
     build_on_pet_types(Species.alphabetical) do |pet_type|
       image = pet_type_image(pet_type, :happy, :zoom)
@@ -157,9 +168,7 @@ module ItemsHelper
   end
 
   def pet_type_image(pet_type, emotion, size)
-    emotion_id = PetTypeImage::Emotions[emotion]
-    size_id = PetTypeImage::Sizes[size]
-    src = sprintf(PetTypeImage::Format, pet_type.basic_image_hash, emotion_id, size_id)
+    src = pet_type_image_url(pet_type, emotion:, size:)
     human_name = pet_type.species.name.humanize
     image_tag(src, :alt => human_name, :title => human_name)
   end
diff --git a/app/models/color.rb b/app/models/color.rb
index 94a2b5f1..42ee4415 100644
--- a/app/models/color.rb
+++ b/app/models/color.rb
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ class Color < ApplicationRecord
     end
   end
 
+  def example_pet_type(preferred_species: Species.first)
+    pet_types.order([Arel.sql("species_id = ? DESC"), preferred_species.id],
+      "species_id ASC").first
+  end
+
   def unfunny_human_name
     if name
       name.split(' ').map { |word| word.capitalize }.join(' ')
diff --git a/app/models/item.rb b/app/models/item.rb
index 1c70ae5d..e0ea7b4b 100644
--- a/app/models/item.rb
+++ b/app/models/item.rb
@@ -197,6 +197,14 @@ class Item < ApplicationRecord
       find { |c| normalized_name.include?(c.name.downcase.gsub(/\s/, "")) }
   end
 
+  # If this is a PB item, return the corresponding Species, inferred from the
+  # item name. If it's not a PB item, or we fail to infer, return nil.
+  def pb_species
+    return nil unless pb?
+    normalized_name = name.downcase
+    Species.order(:name).find { |s| normalized_name.include?(s.name.downcase) }
+  end
+
   def pb_item_name
     pb_color&.pb_item_name
   end
diff --git a/app/views/items/sources.html.haml b/app/views/items/sources.html.haml
index 76bedf46..a67a9854 100644
--- a/app/views/items/sources.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/items/sources.html.haml
@@ -67,6 +67,10 @@
 					- if color.pb_item_thumbnail_url?
 						= image_tag color.pb_item_thumbnail_url,
 							alt: "Item thumbnail for #{color.pb_item_name}"
+					- else
+						= image_tag pet_type_image_url(@pb_color_pet_types[color], size: :face),
+							srcset: ["#{pet_type_image_url(@pb_color_pet_types[color], size: :face_2x)} 2x"],
+							alt: @pb_color_pet_types[color].human_name
 				%th
 					#{color.pb_item_name || color.name.humanize}
 					(#{pluralize items.size, "item"})