To complete the picture I'd like to add two another approaches:

Using ADOX:

oCat = CreateObject("ADOX.catalog")

oCat.ActiveConnection = "DRIVER={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};" +;
                 "Dbq=d:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98\NWind.mdb;" +;
                 "Uid=Admin;" +;
                 "Pwd=;"
lExist = .T.
On Error lExist = .F.
oCat.Tables('customers').Type
On Error
?lExist

Using OLEDB library (file #10002):

oConn = CreateObject("OLEDBFox.Connection")

oConn.StringOpen("DRIVER={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};" +;
                 "Dbq=d:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98\NWind.mdb;" +;
                 "Uid=Admin;" +;
                 "Pwd=;")
oConn.Tables()
LOCATE FOR UPPER(table_name)="CUSTOMERS"
? FOUND()

>
>>What is the best way to test for existence of a table in a Access database?