§ 680.370.Tangible Personal Property

This definition can be counterintuitive at first glance. A promissory note or a stock certificate represents an intangible right to payment or ownership, yet this section groups instruments and securities together with money as "tangible" personal property. The reason is practical rather than conceptual: whatever right the paper represents, the paper itself is a physical object that a levying officer has to locate and physically take possession of to enforce against it.

That distinction -- tangible versus intangible -- determines which levy procedure applies. Property on this list generally has to be seized the way currency or a piece of furniture would be seized, while intangible property like a general intangible (§ 680.210) or a deposit account (§ 680.170) gets reached through notice served on a third party instead, without any physical object changing hands.