Providing and reading a marking on an item

A method for marking an item for the item authentication, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a first predetermined machine-readable marking on the item;
• providing a second predetermined machine-readable marking on the item at least partially overlapping with the first marking,
• wherein the first marking comprises first and second type elements which are visible in a first predetermined lightning condition being a normal light or white light, and the second marking is visible only in a second predetermined lightning condition different from the first lightning condition and being red light or UV light,
• wherein the first marking is a QR-code and the second marking is a data matrix;
• illuminating the markings in the second predetermined lightning condition to derive information used for the item authentication from the markings, where the information depends on a positional relationship between the first marking provided on the item and the second marking provided on the item, the information being:
• a) a representation of a third machine-readable marking formed by overlapping parts of the first marking and the second marking, wherein the first marking overlays the second marking and the third machine-readable marking is determined as the first and second type elements of the first marking being visible in a part of the second marking where the second marking lights up the first and second elements of the overlapping part of the first marking by emitting electromagnetic radiation under the second predetermined lightning condition, or
• b) defined as a distance or degree of rotation of the second marking with respect to one or more reference marks, wherein the first marking further comprises the one or more reference marks and the one or more reference marks are visible under the second predetermined lightning condition;
• storing the derived information for the item in a database.