Examples of Expendable and Non-Expendable Property

The expendable goods are a type of movable property that suffer wear, deterioration or destruction during their use, but that at the same time can perfectly be replaced by another good of the same nature. In other words, fungible goods are perishable but replaceable goods, since they are not uniquely imprinted in their production. For example: money, food, books and notebooks.

On the contrary, non-expendable property are those that, similarly, suffer deterioration, wear or destruction during use, but that they cannot be exchanged for another of their kind, since they are unique objects and individuals. In other words, non-expendable property cannot be replaced as easily as expendable property, since it has unique and unique characteristics. For example: archaeological finds, unique editions, custom clothing.

The term expendable comes from the Latin word fungi (“consume” or “make the most of”), and the distinction between fungible and non-fungible goods comes from the times of Roman Law, that is, from antiquity. This difference is usually contemplated in the respective laws of the nations, especially with regard to to civil and commercial law, and has become popular at the beginning of the 21st century due to the appearance of called

NFT (of English Non-fungible token, that is, “Non-Fungible Token”) linked to digital art and digital financial assets.

Examples of expendable property

Examples of expendable property are:

1. The money, since when using it to buy something it is lost or finished (that is, it is exchanged for what was bought), but it can be replaced through some commercial operation or through work, since all bills and coins have the same value respective.
2. industrialized food and beverages, which we buy, consume and then replenish on our shelves with products of the same brand, such as canned goods, bottled beverages, packaged foods, etc.
3. Common clothing and footwear, mass-produced and sold in stores, these are supplies that we can replace with the same ones when they are badly damaged, as in the case of sports shoes.
4. Mass circulation books, of which thousands or even hundreds of thousands of copies are printed for sale in bookstores, so such that if we spoil our copy we can buy an identical one whose text does not present any variation.
5. Home appliances and electronics, such as televisions, toasters, blenders, microwaves, cell phones or computers, which can be replaced with others of the same model in case of failure or damage.
6. Notepads and notebooks, whose pages run out when written, but can be replaced with a new and identical notebook to continue writing.

Examples of non-expendable property

Examples of non-expendable property are:

1. The original works of art, which can be copied or reproduced, but never replaced by another equal. For example, there is only one Gioconda Leonardo da Vinci's original, despite the fact that his image has been reproduced millions of times for commercial and decorative purposes. But if the museum where the work is housed suffers an accident and the work is destroyed, there will be no other to replace it, since the copies do not replace the original work.
2. the unique editions, which are copies of books published a long time ago or in clandestine publishers, of which there are no longer but very few copies in the best of cases. The destruction of one of these books cannot be replaced with a modern edition, as they are unique editions.
3. Archaeological and paleontological finds, such as dinosaur bones and primitive human stone tools, which are unique finds in history and although today we can imitate the technique of its elaboration to produce similar ones, the historical and archaeological value of the original makes it unique and irreplaceable.
4. Custom designed garments, that is, by sewing professionals who make unique pieces taking the measurements of the client and designing special clothes for him. Should such clothing be destroyed, the maker would have to remeasure, redesign, and create something similar, but it would never be the same item.
5. Irreproducible collectibles, such as bottles of wine from specific old vintages (for example, a 1945 Pinot Noir), personal property that belonged to famous personalities, and other collector's items of which there are similar models on the market, but which have their specific value due to the historical conditions in which they were produced or used.

References:

• “expendable good” in Wikipedia.
• “How to distinguish a fungible good from what is not” in idcOnline.
• "Fungible goods" on Legal Concepts.com.
• “Other classifications of goods” by Fernando Arias García in the University Santo Tomas (Colombia).

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