Hi Jade,
Odd the way things go......I have a belt with similar closure, possibly silver. I've been researching for over a year and recently found 5 others on line. Yesterday I joined here and today......I find your post. I have found silver belts with round closures and the body of the belts made of chain or some kind of links. I was hoping to find more info at this site as well but I'm happy to share with you what I know so far. I have found that my belt is from south India 19th century. These links show the bells/beads very much like your belt and they have the same clasp except round I believe. This is something I also found....
This waist belt from Southern India was characteristically worn by young maidens
from wealthy homes. It formed a part of their customary dress which included a skirt
tied at the waist, a blouse and a contrasting half-sari, usually in 3 contrasting colors.
The waist belt is tied over the half-sari to fix in in place, as the young girls play around,
unmindful of their half-sari flying around.
Now of course other ares around the world could have made belts of the same. I've researched the art work on mine to determine more info. If those beads are not a sure thing that this comes from India. Take a look at the flower, it may be symbolic.
Hope this helped
Mick
Here are some links:
http://wovensouls.com/Main-pages/Antique-Jewelry-Gallery.html http://www.jewelofthelotus.com/jewelstore/catalogsearch/result/?q=silver+belt&x=24&y=5 http://wovensouls.com/Detail-pages/s143.html