Is the content of a safe deposit box Tangible Personal Property?

Answer 1

The simple answer is "yes." But using the word "content" makes this something of a "trick" question. Technically any three-dimensional object is "tangible personal property." Jewelry and coins are obvious. But so too is a piece of paper.

Ans so some things can be both tangible personal property, and also represent "intangible" personal property. A dollar bill is tangible as a piece of paper with special words and images on it, but if you look closely on the front of the bill to the left of the image of George Washington, you'll see the words "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private" which means it has "intangible" value, being a promise by the US government that the paper has the value of One US dollar (which fluctuates from time to time). A paper stock certificate is both tangible -- that is you can touch and feel it and has three dimensions -- and is usually needed if you want to sell the shares, but it also represents ownership of shares of a company, and to this extent is intangible because it relies on the validity of the certificate as confirmation of the share ownership. In fact, if you know you own shares of a company and the company verifies it but you can't find the actual paper certificate, you can still sell the shares by providing a "lost certificate affidavit" and following other company procedures.

If the dollar bill is a counterfeit (fraudulent/fake), or there are signatures on the certificate that are forgeries or fraudulent (or the company is bankrupt or non-existent), the value of the dollar bill or stock certificate, other than as a piece of paper, may be virtually nothing, or the paper itself may have more value as paper or as a collectible than what the words and images on the paper pretend to represent. Think about an autograph, or a DVD too.