A method for marking an item, the method comprising the steps of: - providing a first predetermined machine-readable marking on the item, the first predetermined machine-readable marking being visible in a first predetermined lightning condition and comprises first and second type elements; - providing a second predetermined machine-readable marking on the item at least partially overlapping with the first marking, the second predetermined machine-readable marking being visible only in a second predetermined lightning condition different from the first lightning condition; and characterized by comprising the further steps of: - illuminating the markings in the second lightning condition to derive information 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 the overlapping parts of the first and second markings and determined as the first and second type elements of the first marking being visible in the second marking under the second lightning condition; or b) being defined as a distance or degree of rotation of the second marking with respect to one or more reference marks of the first marking, wherein the reference marks of the first marking are visible under the second lightning condition; - storing the derived information for the item in a database . - providing a first predetermined machine-readable marking on the item, the first predetermined machine-readable marking being visible in a first predetermined lightning condition and comprises first and second type elements; - providing a second predetermined machine-readable marking on the item at least partially overlapping with the first marking, the second predetermined machine-readable marking being visible only in a second predetermined lightning condition different from the first lightning condition; and - illuminating the markings in the second lightning condition to derive information 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 the overlapping parts of the first and second markings and determined as the first and second type elements of the first marking being visible in the second marking under the second lightning condition; or b) being defined as a distance or degree of rotation of the second marking with respect to one or more reference marks of the first marking, wherein the reference marks of the first marking are visible under the second lightning condition; a) a representation of a third machine-readable marking formed by the overlapping parts of the first and second markings and determined as the first and second type elements of the first marking being visible in the second marking under the second lightning condition; or b) being defined as a distance or degree of rotation of the second marking with respect to one or more reference marks of the first marking, wherein the reference marks of the first marking are visible under the second lightning condition; - storing the derived information for the item in a database . <EOS>