In these torsional oscillator experiments the samples of solid $^4$He were characterized by measuring their thermal conducitvity. Polycrystalline samples of helium of either high isotopic purity or natural concentration of $^3$He were grown in an ann
ular container by the blocked-capillary method and investigated before and after annealing. No correlation has been found between the magnitude of the low-temperature shift of the torsional oscillator frequency and the amount of crystalline defects as measured by the thermal conductivity. In samples with the natural $^3$He concentration a substantial excess thermal conductivity over the usual $T^3$ dependence was observed below 120 mK.
