I am so sorry for this. We just moved in February and I was terrified about what they would do with my stuff. I was still recovering from shoulder reconstruction surgery right after Christmas and could do NOTHING. Thanks to some wonderful suggestions from this board -
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-94793-1.htm - a couple of my friends and I packed all of my fabrics in plastic tubs and marked them. The movers then packed the tubs into their boxes. My machines were packed and my husband moved them when he did his bachelor move three weeks before the house was moved.
Make sure that you document EVERYTHING. The damage to the boxes and the contents. Detail the losses of the china. You might be able to find replacement pieces. There are several places on-line that specialize in finding pieces for old/antique sets. One of the places is called Replacements.
Oh - and make sure that you keep detailed records of all of the losses and your correspondence with the moving company. At the end - regardless of the outcome (favorable or not) file a claim with the BBB and the State Attorney's Office. They can make life for the movers harder and make them give even more compensation.
I have to commend the company that did our move. We had been pro moved one time before and were no treated very well. This time we had ONE crew through the entire thing. The same 4 guys that packed us, loaded us, drove, and unloaded us. It was reassuring to have one crew of guys. And it was so much better for my pets - especially my big Boxer boy Loki - to have all the same group. The guys were able to make friends will all of the animals on the first day so they problems with barking and fussing and fretting was GREATLY reduced. And the guys were simply great. We had a cookout at a local state park a couple of weeks ago for the guys and their families. Their moving home office is located about 40 minutes from our new place. They said that they had NEVER been treated so well by customers. (We also fed them lunch on all three days of packing, loading and unloading.) We told them that we had NEVER had such good service. Rest assured that we will be contacting them again - whether the move is paid for by the company or us.