To provide the manufacture and use of an optically recognizable transparent or translucent transaction card that can include hologram, magnetic stripe or an integrated circuit and other transaction card components.

An invisible optically recognizable infrared ink and/or film compound allows the transaction card to be detected by a sensor in an ATM or card assembly line. When the transaction card is inserted into an ATM device, a light beam from an infrared LED is blocked by the infrared ink or film to deactivate a phototransistor. Moreover, during the manufacture of transaction cards, the optically recognizable card allows an infrared LED light beam from a personalization device, inspection device or counter device to count the number of transaction cards manufactured in an assembly line.