Local encoding of intrinsic authentication data

A device includes a processor, a machine-readable memory, and an optical capture device coupled to the processor. The processor generates a unique identifier of an object in view of the capture device. The unique identifier includes encoded information to locate a region of interest on the object, and a digital fingerprint extracted from the region of interest, locally encoding intrinsic authentication data of the object in the unique identifier. A reverse process for identification and or authentication of an object may be implement by locating an identifier on an object, recovering encoded information from the identifier, using that information to locate a region of interest, digital fingerprinting the located region of interest, and comparing the digital fingerprint to the digital fingerprint encoded in the unique identifier to obtain and present a result, without reliance on any exogenous database.