chngpe, I hope this is not an infractionable posting, but I just wanted to let the TS know to be very vigilent, and that there are a few honest people around.
I once carelessly left my wallet filled with cash and cards at an amusement center. Upon realising that I had left it behind on one of the games, I told myself "Die lah, gone already", but still went back to check. Nope, it was no longer there, and I was about to leave when I passed the coin changing counter and told myself, "Can't loose anything by asking", and lo and behold, they asked me for details of the wallet and when I provided it, they returned the wallet. A teenager had returned it!
More specifically related to the loss in the cab, make a police report for the record, and keep that report safely. If you have photographs, warranty cards, receipts ... anything, zerox those and attach them to the police report.
I did just that when I left some expensive equipment in a cab once, and a few years later, a friend (unknowingly) bought the same exact items from Cash Converter, right down to the bag that contained everything, and wanted to show it to me to ask for opinions about the equipment.
Needless to say, I called the police to track the seller, and all the old police reports, copied documents and photographs were instrumental in proving that the equipment belogned to me. After about 2 months of investigations, I got every single item back safely.
Be realistic in your hopes, but take care of necessary paper-work including police reports - you never know when you might need them.
Take care.