Were they independent tosses, in the sense that they were done with separate coins by separate people in the separate counties, with witnesses from both groups? Of did the toss(es) purportedly get done in one place, with no one looking?
The latter is hard to believe, so your explanation is the most likely.
My understanding is they happened individually in the place they decided they were tied. Even all in one place it would still be clustering, there’s just not enough at stake to monkey with the coin toss.